Indoor pot-growing proposal in Richmond Hill to be discussed

Markham firm wants to set up facility on Newkirk

Richmond Hill Liberal
May 5, 2014
By Kim Zarzour

Richmond Hill could soon be home to at least one legal pot-growing facility.

Councillors are expected to discuss today, Monday, where, in general terms, such businesses could be located in the town, but one applicant is already eying a Newkirk Road property in Ward 2.

Solicitor Laura Bowman is set to appear before the committee of the whole asking council to allow her client, Dyma Inc., to establish an indoor pot-growing facility at 75 Newkirk Rd., just north of the GO train station.

Dyma is a Markham-based company describing itself as a “responsible medical marijuana producer” and an applicant for a licence under Health Canada’s Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations.

The location, owned by Crestview Investment, would be used to cultivate, dry, cure, test, package and store pot for pharmaceutical purposes, Ms Bowman said.

Ms Bowman is asking councillors to overrule a staff interpretation of zoning bylaws that determined pot production is “agricultural” and not permitted as an industrial use in that location.

The question of where marijuana can be grown is something all municipalities are going to have to work out from a land use perspective, said planning commissioner Ana Bassios.

The issue came up for a preliminary discussion at last week’s council public meeting.

Regional Councillor Brenda Hogg warned that the town’s decision could be controversial.

“I can see the need, I can see the expectation it will be somewhere in York Region, but I’m not sure they’ll be dancing in the streets and saying ‘yippee, let’s have one of the first medical marijuana facilities’,” she said of Richmond Hill residents.

“It will come down to a form of branding for the town and that’s what will upset people. It’s just too fresh, just too new. You may have the law on your side, but it will still be an offence to a lot of residents.”

After listening to three delegations on the proposal, Ward 2 Councillor Carmine Perrelli, in whose ward the pot-growing facility would be located, said such talk ressembled "fear-mongering".

“All of a sudden we talk about a medical use of a drug and already we’re anticipating people coming out and getting all upset about it.”

Medical use of marijuana is now legal, he said, adding “there’s a lot of people that rely on it today and a lot of lives have been changed” by recent changes in marijuana policy.

Ward 4 Councillor David West raised the question of how the company would destroy byproducts of the growing process, and whether fumes would be noticed by residential areas surrounding the industrial park north of Major Mackenzie between Yonge and Bayview.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and not a lot of past learning from other municipalities,” he said. “The onus is on us as council and staff to understand the ramifications of a new industry like this.”

Niki Spence, chief business development officer at Dyma, said the company will use a charcoal filtration system and operate under Health Canada’s stringent requirements.

In order to become a licensed producer, pot-growing sites must be located indoors and meet requirements for physical security.

Any byproduct that isn’t distributed as medicinal marijuana - stems, leaves etc. - will be composted rather than burned and a third party will take it off premises, she said.

“There should be no scent coming from our facility.”