Pubdate: Mon, 22 Dec 2014
Source: Niagara Falls Review, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Niagara Falls Review
Contact: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/letters
Website: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2907
Author: Ray Spiteri
Page: A1

FORMER FACTORIES COULD BECOME MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROW-OPS

 From sugar to pot? If may take a while, but the process has begun for
medical marijuana grow operations to start sprouting up in Niagara
Falls.

The city's committee of adjustment approved two zoning variances for
the former Redpath Sugar plant on Garner Rd. and the former Kimberly
Clark factory on Victoria Ave.

The owners of both buildings applied to the committee so that a
"nurser y for trees, plants and shrubs" could be added to the list of
permitted uses on those properties.

The city posted advance notices about the public meeting that took
place Tuesday, but the notices did not specifically mention marijuana.

Those opposed to the approvals have 20 days from the committee
decision to file an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board, which
handles planning disputes.

City clerk Dean Iorfida said it's up to the federal government whether
to approve a legal grow operation, not the municipality.

Applicants must seek a federal licence and let the municipality know
about their application to Health Canada. The notification is
circulated to various departments and the applicant is provided
comments and any municipal requirements, such as building permits, are
outlined.

City council approved a staff report in 2013 around the time the
federal government introduced changes to medical marijuana
regulations. The report recommended council asking the federal
government not to issue medical marijuana licences until it has
received feedback from the affected municipality. Council felt that
would ensure applications would comply with city bylaws. Iorfida said
the city has been notified of six applications to Health Canada. He
said the Redpath proposal is not one of the six notifications he received.

"Not a single local application has been approved by Health Canada. In
fact, very few have been approved throughout the country," he wrote in
an email to councillors this week.

Iorfida said one of the applicants, who the clerk described as a "very
credible farmer," told him the federal process is "very intensive,"
requiring thorough plans and criminal checks.

"To become a licensed producer, an applicant must meet all
requirements of the new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations
including, but not limited to, obtaining the proper personal security
clearances, meeting the physical security requirements for the
cultivation and storage areas including security measures, and
submitting a completed licensed producer application," he wrote in the
2013 report.

The planting, cultivation and harvesting of marijuana is considered to
be a crop and allowed wherever crops can be grown, Alex Herlovich, the
city's director of planning, building and development, wrote in an
email to councillors this week.

First and foremost are agriculturally zoned areas. Crops can be grown
in greenhouses and plant nurseries. A "nursery for trees, plants and
shrubs" are also allowed in "prestige" and "light" industrial zones,
as the definition of nursery is broad enough to encompass a legal grow
operation.

The former Redpath property and some CN lands behind the Via Station
fall "somewhere between" light industrial and general industrial, said
Herlovich.

Iorfida said he assumes that's why the proponents may have needed
approval of the committee of adjustment to add the nursery use.

"I assume the proponents in the case may have wanted to be
zoning-compliant prior to submitting their application to Health
Canada, which is actually good due diligence, as opposed to notifying
the municipality of their application and not inquiring on zoning,"
said Iorfida.

Herlovich said the owners of the two sites still have to apply for a
federal licence.

"There is no forgone conclusion that these sites will be used for
medical marijuana operations," he said, adding the federal licence
application has to be reviewed and approved for operation. "There are
no guarantees such a licence will be issued."

Of the six notifications the city has received, about half were
agricultural, said Iorfida.

He said those agricultural proposals don't have to go before the
committee or council, however, none of them have been approved by the
feds and some of those applications are more than a year old.

Properties associated with other notifications were at industrial
locations. Those proponents were advised they would have to go through
a committee of adjustment amendment to add the use. None of them made
further applications, said Iorfida.

"Council should be opposing an application based on planning merits
not the type of crop that is being legally produced," said Iorfida.
"If what is being grown is lawful, i.e. with a federal licence, city
staff cannot distinguish between what is being grown.

"Council should also be reminded that any grow-op approved by the feds
will be a production and mail-order business only."

That means licensed users can't buy on site and operations would be
"strictly" indoors.

"Based on past experience, federal approval is still a long-shot, in
my opinion, and if the proponents do get approval it would likely not
be apparent to the residents whether the site was producing sugar or
medicinal marihuana."
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MAP posted-by: Matt