7 pot shops downtown?

Photo: pixabay

Penticton city council will debate next week upending it’s entire policy on retail cannabis, in favour of a cap system that could limit pot shops to seven downtown and 14 city-wide.

Planning manager Blake Laven will present councillors with two paths — keep the status quo or move to the cap system.

Last month council approved four cannabis stores for the community, but did not have the stomach to outright reject the remaining shops that did not earn a staff recommendation.

“It seemed as if there was some unease from council regarding the approved cannabis retail store policy now that it is in effect,” Laven’s report states, explaining that all the applications received actually ended up being quite strong.

“There was a sense that perhaps the policy as currently drafted is too restrictive and does not foster enough competition amongst the prospective businesses.”

The existing system uses buffer zones limiting the proximity of shops from each other and schools that create a de facto limit of about 7-9 shops in the city.

“In the application of this approach, council is being asked to deny strong applications, as they did not conform to the buffer requirements and approve others that may not be as strong in locations that do conform to the buffer rules — perhaps not an ideal outcome,” Laven continues.

Council will be presented with an alternative option that would remove the buffer zones between stores and move to a system that caps the overall number of shops in the community at 14 and downtown at seven. The new policy includes a sunset clause that would remove the cap completely in 2022.

“Importantly, this alternate approach removes all subjectivity from the process removing the need for a merit based comparison of stores,” Laven said, explaining all stores who meet the policy and don’t receive significant negative public feedback would be approved.

Council also has the option of reducing the buffer zones between stores to allow more shops to be approved.

The motion will be debated during Tuesday afternoon’s meeting.