Richmond Hill considers citizen group to determine legal grow locations
One councillor objects, saying residents would delay approvals
YorkRegion.ca
June 9, 2014
By Kim Zarzour
Do you care about where medical marijuana is grown in Richmond Hill?
Town councillors may want your opinion.
With new federal regulations opening the doors to legal pharmaceutical pot production, the town is considering the possibility of a citizen committee.
The idea was first raised Monday at council committee by Regional Councillor Brenda Hogg, who said many questions remain unanswered following enactment of the regulations April 1.
One company, Dyma Inc., has already stepped forward with a request to locate an indoor pot-growing facility at 75 Newkirk Rd., just north of the GO train station in Ward 2, but the town’s chief building official deemed it an agricultural activity and ruled against it.
Dyma has appealed that decision to Ontario Superior Court, with a hearing date set for July 4.
The location, a vacant building in an industrial-zoned area owned by Crestview Investment, raises questions, Hogg said.
“Centre Street, Crosby, Belvedere Court and Sussex are all in close proximity to this industrial area, she said, referring to residential streets. “Does this make a difference? I don’t know.
“I’m not even sure our residents are informed about what’s going on right now.”
She said other municipalities are also grappling with the issue.
East Gwillimbury has implemented a bylaw prohibiting legal grow-ops for one year as it investigates what municipal bylaw changes need to be in place to handle marijuana growth.
Uxbridge is being asked to approve a potential marijuana operation – headed up by Ontario’s former health minister George Smitherman along with a retired deputy police chief and a Markham pharmacist – but residents there are raising concerns.
The Town of Aurora has not yet received any applications, but is studying which facilities could be used, and in Stouffville, local politicians say they want a say in where grow ops can be located after receiving an application for a large-scale grow-op on rural land on the Ninth Line.
“There are proper places they can put these things, not in residential areas,” Mayor Wayne Emmerson said. “All that we want is a say where these things go and public participation.”
Municipalities do have a say, according to Paul Calandra, MP for Oak Ridges-Markham.
“If the town wants to put in a mechanism where they will consult with the community, then go ahead,” he said.
Applications have been pouring in to Health Canada since the new law was enacted, with predictions of $1.3 billion per year in annual sales.
“We may well have many applications coming forward because there are probably a lot of people who think they can make their first million,” Hogg said, “but that doesn’t mean they have the qualifications or credentials or will act in accord with our expectations as a community.”
Ward 6 Councillor Godwin Chan also expressed concerns about the minimum 70-metre setback for a licensed grow-op.
But Carmine Perrelli, in whose ward the Dyma facility would be located, said town staff deemed the 70-metre setback appropriate.
A citizens group would be an attempt to try and delay the process, he said, “and therefore contrary to what the federal government is telling us we need to do.
“At the end of the day it is council that will make the ultimate decision, not a citizens group designed to promote fear-mongering in the community.”
Councillors asked staff to address concerns raised and report back prior to summer recess and may consider the creation of a formal citizen committee.
- with files from Sandra Bolan and Brea Bartholet
