City council will be considering its second rezoning application this year for a cannabis retail store on Vedder Road.
Stonewater Ventures applied to rezone a portion of the property at 5754 Vedder Road to C9 cannabis retail zoning.
Council gave the rezoning bylaw first and second reading at the last council meeting on Nov. 19.
The public hearing is slated for Dec. 3 at city hall.
This C9 proposal moved forward in part because it met the minimum 300-metre buffer zone requirements in terms of its distance from schools, parks, playgrounds, as well as youth facilities and supportive housing.
But an earlier application from down the street was turned down.
The rezoning for 5865 Vedder Road was dealt with at the Oct. 15 city council meeting, and denied by council due to the fact that it would require a variance. A variance permit would be required since the distance from the proposed storefront was only 250 m away from Clover Park, and 265 m away from Vedder Elementary, and therefore did not meet the minimum distance requirement of 300 m.
Council made it clear it has no appetite to approve any development variance permits from retail cannabis applicants.
The substantiation for the latest application stated: “The proposal (for 5754 Vedder Rd.) meets the required minimum 300m buffer requirements from the proposed unit location within the subject property to all surrounding schools, parks, playgrounds, supportive housing facilities that serve vulnerable youth, and other permitted cannabis retailers, as shown on the map below.
The plan is to demolish the existing house on the property and build a new two-unit commercial building with one residential unit (accessory dwelling unit) on the second floor.
To date on City of Chilliwack property, two federally licensed retail stores were approved and rezoned by city council, with one, Cannabis Connection now open on Industrial Way, and another, Seed and Stone rezoned on Lickman Road.
The very first federally approved cannabis retail store in the area on Indigenous land, The Kure, was licensed and opened on Skwah First Nation land in April 2019. Two Indigenous Bloom locations, which are rebranding, were licensed under Indigenous cannabis acts.
READ MORE: No appetite for variance with C9 applications
READ MORE: The Kure first legal pot store in the area
@CHWKjourno
jfeinberg@theprogress.com
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