Photo: City of West Kelowna

Green star: recommended

Three potential retail cannabis operators in West Kelowna are appealing a decision to, at least temporarily, decline their application.

Owners of Cheeba Cheeba and BeKind had their applications put on hold, while Higher Ground was denied outright by city staff.

All three have informed the city they wish to plead their case before city council Tuesday evening.

Last year, council set out definitive policies pertaining to the sale of non-medical cannabis.

Those included a maximum of four store locations, two in downtown Westbank and two in the Boucherie Centre/West Kelowna Business Park area.

There were no strict restrictions regarding proximity to each other except stores could not abut one another.

In all, the city received 10 applications, however, following the initial scoring process, three applicants withdrew.

Of those remaining, the highest scoring applicants for the Boucherie Centre area came up just 115 metres apart.

Staff have laid out an option where council could add a third store in that area in the Boucherie Centre portion of the area.

Whether council approves four, or five locations, the applications would be forwarded to rezoning, and arrive back at the council table at a future date.

They would then have to go through a city and provincial licensing process before being allowed to open to the public.