Rimbey town council has taken the first steps towards preparing for the legalization of cannabis, but has not approved the amended bylaw.
Recreational cannabis is to be legalized in Canada on Oct. 17 in accordance with Bill C-45. The bill will also control and regulate how cannabis is grown, distributed and sold.
Rimbey’s development officer, Liz Armitage has put together amendments to the land use bylaw regarding cannabis, which were presented at Tuesday’s public hearing.
Under the proposed amended bylaw, cannabis must be sold from a federally approved and licensed facility.
Cannabis stores must be licensed by the Alberta Government and cannot be combined with another use such as a convenience store.
Stores selling cannabis need to be 100 metres away from schools, provincial health care facilities or emergency shelters.
Cannabis Production Facilities are required to be located in a commercial or industrial area.
Bart Carswell from Carswell Planning in Calgary spoke in favour of the amendments at the public hearing. He said the amendments pertaining to cannabis were in keeping with the Municipal Government Act.
“The municipality has done a very good job,” he said. “You guys are on the leading edge (of preparing for Bill C-45).
In an earlier interview, Mayor Rick Pankiw said the town needed to deal with Bill c-45.
“It is (cannabis) going to be legalized sometime in the future so we have to change our land use bylaw to deal with it,” Mayor Rick Pankiw said. “We can’t change the fact that it is going to be legalized.”
The mayor said he was at a conference recently where an inquiring was made regarding municipalities enforcing bylaws which would prohibit the sale of cannabis.
However, a lawyer present at the conference said such a bylaw could not be enforced.
A Rimbey Review web poll held last week on the Review’s facebook page with the question “are you in favour of legalizing cannabis” resulted in 20 votes. Of those votes 14 participants voted for the legalization and six voted against it.
The Cannabis Act is now law. treena.mielke@rimbeyreview.com