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Medical marijuana facility proposed for Campbell River

City issues development permit for ‘cultivation and processing of medical marijuana’ facility
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The city has issued a development permit that could see a commercial marijuana cultivation and production facility built on Middle Point Road. Creative Commons Photo

Campbell River may be getting a commercial marijuana production facility.

In Oct. 2016, council passed a zoning amendment bylaw that would permit industrial-scale medical marijuana production plants to set up shop in areas zoned I-2 (heavy industrial, warehousing, storage yards) such as those in the Duncan Bay area, as well as lands zoned A-1 and A-2 (warehouses, airport, aviation related services, forestry) which are exclusively out by the airport.

This week, a Major Development Permit was issued to Braymore Enterprises of Kamloops, B.C., that paves the way for two 669 sq/m metal building is to be constructed at 4466 and 4430 Middle Point Rd “that will be used for the commercial cultivation and processing of medical marijuana,” according to the staff report to council.

Staff recommended that the development permit be approved, as it fits within the city’s Sustainable Official Community Plan Land Use Designation for the property, being zoned I-2 (Industrial Two) and are between two other properties with the same designation.

“Nuisances such as noise (from trucks loading and unloading products), odour (from the growing and cultivation of marijuana) and aesthetic impacts (such as barbed security fencing) expected to be generated as part of the marijuana production business are considered appropriate given that the subject properties are surrounded by heavy industrial uses already found within the Midport Industrial area,” the report states.

Coun. Charlie Cornfield questioned whether they can expect complaints about the smell of the facility should it come to fruition, despite it being in an industrial park, to which city planner Kevin Brooks replied that Health Canada has “very stringent” requirements on marijuana production facilities that they “scrub” any exhaust that comes out of the buildings, and anything above and beyond what is mitigated by that scrubbing would be dealt with through the city’s already-existing “public nuisance” bylaw.

Mayor Andy Adams confirmed that he has toured at least one of these types of facilities in the past and said that the odour wasn’t discernible from the outside, although once inside the building it was “pungent.”

The facility, once in production, is expected to employ four full-time employees, “and up to four additional employees who will be retained during peak production seasons for a total of eight employees.”

The development permit was issued under the conditions that a performance security be received at 125 per cent of the estimated landscaping cost, a cost estimate and security be provided for environmental monitoring and reporting be received by the city and a covenant be placed on the property that facilitates shared parking between the two properties in question.