Photo: The Canadian Press

Kelowna city council gave quick approval to the rezoning of seven potential cannabis retail stores on Monday.

The seven retailers must still go through an April 9 public hearing before applying for both city and provincial licensing.

It's unclear how long provincial licensing process will take.

To date, only 14 private, and 10 provincial cannabis operations have been licensed in all of B.C. Only one provincial outlet is currently open.

Of the seven Kelowna outlets up for discussion Monday, one is on Bernard Avenue downtown, two in strip malls along Harvey Avenue, another in a strip mall on Springfield Road, a fifth in a commercial building on Glenmore Road, a sixth in a small strip mall on Gordon Drive near Cook Road, and the seventh on Rutland Road South near Highway 33.

It took less than 15 minutes for council to approve all seven.

These are the first of 15 applications expected to come before council in coming weeks.

All 15 passed the first hurdle of the city's screening process.