The Town of Eckville hosted a public hearing on the Land Use Bylaw Amendment 747-18 during their council meeting on Mon., Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Eckville Town Office.
Three members of the community were in attendance to ask questions and share opinions before Council voted to pass the new bylaw.
No written submissions were received.
The biggest concern was how far cannabis retail stores will have to be from schools.
The restriction for cannabis retailers is 100 metres from schools, school reserves and health care buildings. The 100 metres starts at the edge of the property line.
The application is 70 pages long and features a list of other restrictions and guidelines to follow that have been laid out by Alberta Gaming and Liquor Control.
The passing of the new Land Use Bylaw means that those interested in opening a dispensary (cannabis retail) can make an application as long as it is the right property that meets the guidelines and is in one of the two districts approved by Council, the central commercial district and the highway commercial district.
“From our perspective they’d come forward and say, ‘okay, I want to open a [cannabis] dispensary here’ and then it would automatically as a discretion use go to the Planning Commission,” said Jack Ramsden, the chief administrative officer for the Town of Eckville.
From there the Municipal Planning Commission can either reject or approve the application.
If it is approved, it is advertised and there is an appeal process for people who want to oppose it, and if it is not approved there is an appeal process through the Commission.
“It’s usually on planning grounds, for example, ‘it’s too close to this,’ ‘it doesn’t meet the regulations,’” said Ramsden. “I say that because sometimes it does run on a motion, but ideally it should be based on sound planning rational.”
Ramsden also said that as of now there is likely only two or three locations that would fit the regulations, but there is also the option of trying to have a building re-zoned.
“I can’t predict how the Planning Commission would go, but it would be quite interesting,” added Ramsden. “If they met all the conditions and all the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed it would be interesting to see what would happen.”
Last night Council also voted to not increase the FORTIS Alberta Franchise Fee in 2018. The franchise rate will remain at 10 per cent.
Also, Communities in Bloom’s annual Kick It To The Curb event is on Sat., Oct. 13 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.