How will the province keep pot shops away from schools? In Toronto, it won’t be easy

It would be difficult to find sites for cannabis stores in Toronto that aren’t within a short distance of schoolyards. But some neighbourhoods say they’d welcome a pot store in their area.

Thestar.com
April 17, 2018
Victoria Gibson

 

Premier Kathleen Wynne has ordered that school boards be given a say in where provincial marijuana stores are located, noting that boards are likely to know “where their kids go at lunchtime (and) where they go after school.”

Her demand came after the announcement that Toronto’s first outlet of the Ontario Cannabis Store would be located in Scarborough, 450 metres from Blantyre Public School. The Toronto District School Board said it had asked to be consulted about the location, but never was. Concerned Blantyre parents discussed the news at a school council meeting last week.

But is there anywhere in the city a marijuana store could land without customers crossing paths with schoolchildren and teens?

According to data compiled by the Star, more than half the city is within 450 metres of a school, even without factoring in areas where children and teenagers spend their recreational time.
Most of Toronto is near a school
Granting every Toronto public school a 450 metre buffer from future Ontario Cannabis Store locations leaves little room for pot shops

The blank spaces left over range from industrial areas to High Park to the Toronto South Detention Centre, a maximum-security correctional facility.

While debate rages on at Queen’s Park, several of Toronto’s business improvement areas (BIAs) told the Star they’d actually welcome a provincially run marijuana shop — and that, regardless of proximity to schools or child-centric areas, kids wouldn’t be able to just waltz in and buy pot.

“I’m sure they’d have protocols to prevent children from purchasing the product, that are equal to or greater than the Madison (pub) selling a pint of beer to an 8-year-old,” said Brian Burchell, chair of the Bloor Annex BIA. “Everywhere in our area is near a school, along with half of our members being bars.”

Burchell said the downtown BIAs have been forced to confront the issue of marijuana stores before, discussing the multitude of dispensaries that set up shop downtown before provincially run stores even entered the equation. “We’ve always felt obliged to accommodate a variety of businesses, all of which were compliant with what we understand to be the Criminal Code and various bylaws that we, as a city board, are obliged to follow,” he told the Star.

“If a business is illegal, we would not be comfortable with accommodating it within our precinct.”

But provincially run, wholly legal marijuana stores are a different question for him. “Insofar that the business is legal, and deemed locally desirable -- I mean from the perspective that there’s a market and the business can be profitable and serve a community of users -- I can’t see why we’d be opposed,” he said. “(Bloor) is one of the most eclectic, thriving streets in the city ... I don’t see why that kind of business wouldn’t fit in.”

Some BIAs are taking an even stronger stance in support of marijuana stores in their area. Ellen Anderson is chair of the Dovercourt Village BIA, among the tiniest of Toronto’s 83 designated areas, and she thinks a marijuana shop would be good for the neighbourhood.

Dovercourt Village was founded in the late 1800s, but the area has seen some of its local business decline over the years.

A marijuana shop would fit in well, she said, because the area has maintained “reasonable” rent prices, and because it’s “quirky” and “under the radar.”

“There are a lot of creative people who are residents around here,” she said. “I think the bakery would be good for people who get the munchies, because they bake those wonderful Portuguese egg tarts!”

Anderson said there are few kids in the area. “There is one daycare, but those kids are so little it’s not going to have any effect on them. They’re not teenagers,” she said. “It’s not child-oriented. It’s more or less grown-up oriented. There’s a drum shop, and teenagers might go into the drum shop to buy a drum kit, but they don’t hang out there. There isn’t a teenage hangout place, which is a big plus.”

For some other BIAs in the city, the job is to support local businesses -- no matter what they sell.

“West Queen West supports all their members,” executive director Rob Sysak told the Star. “I’m sure some board members and some of the community probably (do) not, but as executive director, my job is to support members. And if a business opens up in West Queen West, they have my support.”

As for Toronto’s school-free zones, here are a few places a pot shop could exist outside the 450-metre rule:

The Toronto Islands and harbour: There’s just one school on the Toronto Islands, called Island Public/Natural Science School, which has been there since 1988 and goes up to Grade 6. There are a few other schools along the harbour, but the area is largely dominated by factories, the ferry docks, businesses, restaurants and hotels.

The Canadian National Exhibition: Exhibition Place, home to the Canadian National Exhibition in the summer and a flurry of trade and consumer shows in between, is a sprawling expanse of convention, exhibition and conference venues. The Better Living Centre became a 24-hour respite shelter during the frigid cold of this past winter, and the Enercare Centre became a sleek, security-heavy venue for Hillary Clinton’s book tour in September.

High Park and the Humber River Valley: Putting a pot store in High Park, Toronto’s largest public park, or Humber River Valley, the city’s largest watershed, would mean travelling outside the area where you bought your marijuana to use it. Ontario will outlaw marijuana usage in all parks and public places when the substance becomes legal. Plus, the areas are filled with hiking trails, a zoo, playgrounds for children, and known wildlife corridors.

Near Pearson airport: Highways, landing strips, industrial spaces and planes: all fill the land surrounding Pearson International Airport without throwing schools in the mix. Though the airport’s screeners are no longer calling the cops when a passenger shows up for their flight with a marijuana prescription (as long as they’re carrying 150 grams or less), that doesn’t mean the transport authority is looking for the province to set up shop next door.

Rouge Park: Rouge National Urban Park is Toronto’s only campground, its government website boasts, and one of the region’s largest marshes. It includes some of Canada’s oldest known Indigenous sites and is cut through by the Rouge River. Thousands of animals are housed in the middle, at the Toronto Zoo, wandering around enclosures filled with grass and very different weeds than the province’s new fare.

York University: Canada’s third largest university takes up a large portion of the map. Many of its older students would be able to legally purchase marijuana once the store opens up, unlike the elementary school near the Scarborough location. York is already preparing for the change in law, which will make it harder to crack down on students smoking up on campus -- the university told StarMetro it’s working to update its policies and practices in time for legalization.

The Etobicoke rail yards and industrial area: The rail yards area in Etobicoke is certainly growing, but the latest addition has already sparked political action. New townhomes built near the rail yard have to come with a noise warning for new owners, according to an agreement approved by city council late last month. A large chunk of this “school-free” space is also occupied by the Toronto South Detention Centre -- a maximum-security correctional facility currently housing alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur -- big-box stores, and other industry.

Bridle Path: This is one of the city’s richest neighbourhoods, home to multimillionaires and mansions. Last year, a French-style chateau sprawling over four acres of land in the neighbourhood was put on the market for $35 million. It’s also been the backdrop to a Toronto police investigation, dubbed “Project Bridle Path,” probing a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud case.

The Don Valley and Sunnybrook Park: An “empty” plot of land in this area has recently been hit by a spotlight, as four teams compete to design a livable community on industrial land next to the Don River. But this space is also cut through by the Don Valley Parkway, houses ravines and parkland, and is home to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Eglinton Town Centre: The mall and its surrounding big-box stores, from Walmart to Canadian Tire, take up a chunk of the school-less space in its area. Nearby, you’ll find a library, grocery stores and car dealerships. The planned marijuana shop in Scarborough will be joining an existing strip mall, currently home to a pizza joint, a Kumon tutoring service, a kids’ martial arts studio and a dentist’s office.

Downsview Park: Downsview Park was born after the federal government announced the closure of the former Canadian Forces Base Toronto in 1995. It includes forests, ponds, trails, sports fields, play areas and gardens. It also has a 485,000-square-foot hangar facility, which offers indoor and outdoor fields. The park is a separate entity from the Downsview Lands, which include five different neighbourhoods in the surrounding area.

CP rail yards: The Canadian Pacific Railway’s Agincourt Yard is the railway’s largest marshalling yard. When it opened in 1964, it was surrounded by farmers’ fields. Now, it’s surrounding by residential and commercial development from Middlefield to Agincourt North.