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Penticton  

Buffers will limit pot shops

The City of Penticton is proposing to limit the number of marijuana dispensaries in the city to about seven, not through a hard cap, but through a series of buffer zones limiting their placement to certain parts of the community.

The city released a proposed framework Tuesday for handling retail cannabis in advance of an open house on the subject later this month. The policy was developed with the results of a city-wide survey earlier this year.

“The city-wide survey provided great direction for the development of the framework,” said planning manager Blake Laven in a news release “After reviewing our proposed approach with the business community and other stakeholders and with recent information about the provincial licensing process, we have made some refinements and are now ready to more formally share the recommended approach with residents.”

The proposed plan will see cannabis retail storefronts banned from the 100 to 300 blocks of Main Street or Front Street, and limited to commercial zones C4-6.

Stores will not be allowed within 300 metres of a school, or 300 metres of a another cannabis store downtown or 750 metres in other areas of the city. City staff estimate these buffer zones will naturally limit the number of stores to seven.

Retail hours will be limited to 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the sale of accessory items cannot exceed 20 per cent of floorspace.

Storefronts will need to be transparent and have no roll shutters or security bars outside windows — regulations that are much different from those for liquor stores. Video surveillance will be mandated.

Laven said the discrepancy between rules for pot shops and liquor stores is simply because cannabis gives them a chance to create a new system, "if we went and created guidelines for liquor stores and pawn shops today, we'd probably create rules similar to these."

Smoking and vaping cannabis will be banned from all public spaces and will only be allowed on private property.

The open house on the cannabis framework (and three other topics) runs August 28, 4 to 7 p.m. at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre. Residents who cannot attend the event can also review materials and share their views by completing a feedback form on shapeyourcitypenticton.ca August 24 through to September 7.



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