Rejected pot shops still alive
Colin Dacre - Apr 17, 2019 - Biz Releases

Photo: Colin Dacre
Green Essence owner Melissa Osiowy addresses Penticton council Tuesday night.

Penticton city council has approved four cannabis retail stores for the community but will not snuff out the applications from four others that staff recommended they reject.

Council directed city staff to send letters of approval to the provincial government for Green Gaia (210 Main St.), Cannabis Cottage (385 Martin St.), Spiritleaf (2696 Skaha Lake Rd.) and a BC Cannabis Store (2050 Main St.), while allowing the remaining four to be reconsidered in a month’s time.

Council chambers were full Tuesday evening to watch delegations from the four storefronts city staff recommended be rejected make their case for a reprieve.

Councillors asked few questions of presenters from Green Essence (437 Martin St.), Zen Canna (2050 Main St.), Greenery Cannabis Boutique (465 Main St.) and Bluewater Cannabis (130 Nanaimo Ave.).

“When I received the e-mail that staff was not going to recommend my store, I was completely devastated,” Green Essence owner Melissa Osiowy said. “Maybe because I was operating in the past it’s assumed that I will not follow the rules and regulations. However, I hope to prove the opposite is true.

Suit-clad representatives from Zen Canna, which already has stores approved by municipalities in Kelowna, Vernon and Kamloops, urged councillors to waive the city’s buffer rules that would see them be rejected in favour of the B.C. Cannabis Store.

Brian Kopp of Bluewater Cannabis suggested there was an ingrained bias in the matrix used by city staff to develop recommendations, because it was developed after all the applications were received.

City councillors were sympathetic to the rejected proposals. Mayor John Vassilaki and Coun. Bloomfield were so sympathetic they voted in favour of a failed 5-2 vote that would have seen the city issue licences to all the applicants.

“I’m a businessman, and I’m a strong believer of not closing doors for business in the City of Penticton,” Vassilaki said. “I believe we live in a free-enterprise country.”

Coun. Campbell Watt said he shared a similar personal opinion but noted extensive public consultation shows a desire from residents to have some limits in place.

“We have to listen to the group of people that told us originally that we don’t want stores on every corner,” Watt said. “I do, but they don’t. We have to listen to the people of the city.”

“We cannot, in all good conscience, make a decision that is completely contrary to what the public has told us, loudly and clearly,” Coun. Katie Robinson said, urging councillors to adopt the recommendations put forward by staff.

It was Coun. Watt that suggested the stores rejected by staff not have their proposals completely snuffed out through a letter of rejection to the provincial government. He floated the idea of having the city leave those files open while issuing approval to the four stores recommended by staff.

The vote to approve the four shops recommended by staff passed 4-3, with Vassilaki, Bloomfield and Jake Kimberley opposed. Kimberley voiced his opposition all night to the Green Gaia store at 210 Main St. and voted against anything that saw it approved.

Council then unanimously voted to have staff leave the files open for the four rejected stores so they can be considered with the remaining five retail cannabis applications that will be put before council in about one month’s time.

The provincial government still has to issue final approval for all shops approved by council, which will take months. Green Gaia saw its Summerland proposal approved by the municipality in December and is still waiting for the go-ahead to open.


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