City green lights pot plan
By Kyra Hoggan
The issue of medical marijuana production and research has raised its head in the Kootenays, as city council offered its support, in its usual meeting Monday night (tonight), for the regional district’s creation of a bylaw and zoning to allow for governance of same.
City councillor Kevin Chernoff said the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) is neither supporting nor opposing facilities to produce and research medical marijuana, but are merely putting in place the legislation required for them to deal with such facilities should they find one opening its doors here.
“The regional district didn’t have anything in their OCP (Official Community Plan) or bylaws dealing with marijuana anything, so this is important housekeeping work,” Chernoff said. “This will create a development permit area for that kind of facility, and make it so it can be governed (located in different areas than schools, for example).”
Chernoff said this is also not a statement from the city as to the merit, or lack thereof, of medical marijuana, but rather an attempt to ensure the area has the infrastructure to support the implementation of provincial and federal laws governing the substance.
