A Central Saanich dairy farm previously known for a pungent compost facility is being eyed as the site of a $500-million licensed marijuana-growing operation.

Shawn Galbraith is planning a five- to seven-year project that envisions 21 greenhouses on 36 acres of Stanhope Dairy Farm. If all goes to plan, the facility would become one of the largest marijuana facilities in Canada.

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Galbraith previously built a concrete bunker on Lochside Drive, adjacent to Michell’s Farm, to house a Health Canada-approved cannabis operation.

Galbraith, who owns Evergreen Medicinal Supply Inc., is purchasing the Stanhope farm on Old East Road, and has Health Canada approval to build a single 150,000-square-foot, $25-million greenhouse.

That would be more than double the size of the Tilray marijuana production facility in Nanaimo. Tilray, which employs 200 people, is B.C.’s largest medical pot producer.

“It’s an important project. I can’t emphasize how important it is for the region,” said Galbraith, a 55-year-old former contractor who wants to be a big player in the country’s cannabis industry once the drug is legalized in July.

“We began to realize that three-acre site [next to Michell’s Farm] wasn’t going to be able to produce the economy of scale to compete in the industry.”

The cannabis will be sold only through legal, licensed distribution channels and not to any dispensaries, Galbraith said.

The glass and metal greenhouses would be built near where Lochside Drive becomes the Lochside Trail. A two-metre, tree-topped berm will provide a buffer between the high-security facility and trail users, Galbraith said.

Much like the concrete bunker to the north, the facility would be surrounded by barbed-wire fences and equipped with lights and cameras.

Galbraith said there have been no security concerns or attempted break-ins at the existing Lochside Drive facility, which he likens to a bank vault.

The first greenhouse would have the capacity to produce 18,000 kilograms of dried cannabis a year.

Galbraith is in talks with B.C. Hydro about how to provide enough power to the site. One idea is a new underwater cable between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, which would cost him millions.

Stanhope Dairy Farm, owned by brothers Gord and Robert Rendle, was at the centre of a lengthy battle over a composting plant because it produced a stench that infuriated neighbours.

The compost facility resulted in 1,400 complaints registered by 50 people between April and September 2013 and led to a lawsuit by a group called Stop the Stink against Foundation Organics. In 2017, the owners agreed to stop bringing in food scraps and construction debris for composting.

Neither Rendle responded to requests for comment on the sale of the property. The 98-acre farm was listed for $12 million, but Galbraith would not confirm the purchase price.

He said the marijuana greenhouses would not cause a smell.

“We have a closed looped system so there’s no discharge of any odour,” he said.

But Frans Winkel, who has raised pig, sheep and chickens on an adjacent 18-acre farm for 50 years, is skeptical.

“That’s what Rendle claimed, too,” said 80-year-old Winkel. “That was the same thing with the compost. They said they were going to [control it] and then the smell came.”

The property is in the Agricultural Land Reserve but cannabis operations do not need approval from the Agricultural Land Commission. In 2015, B.C.’s Liberal government decided to allow federally licensed medical cannabis operations on protected agricultural farmland.

Pumpkins, grapes and pot?

“I’m not aware of any mayors in Greater Victoria having much to say about [cannabis on farmland],” said Frank Leonard, chairman of the commission and a former Saanich mayor.

“The former mayor of Saanich is opposed, but the chair of the ALC is not supposed to have an opinion,” Leonard quipped.

“The argument in opposition is it’s not a land-based product. You’re building a bunker and putting it on prime agricultural land. But the previous government was persuaded that a crop is a crop and [cannabis] is agriculture which perhaps makes a farm more viable and it should go ahead,” he said.

“I hear both sides of it.”

The province does not track the number of medical cannabis operations on agricultural land, as medical cannabis operations are licensed by the federal government.

To questions about whether a marijuana production facility is a proper use of farmland, Galbraith replies: “Where else would you build greenhouses?”

“I think this is an agricultural business and in my mind this is an acceptable use of the land,” he said.

“One of the main battle cries of naysayers is ‘This is agricultural land and it should be used to grow food.’ Well, I can tell you grapes are grown on agricultural land and used for wine. Pumpkins are grown and not used for food, they’re used for children’s enjoyment.”

Galbraith hopes to start construction on the first greenhouse early in 2018, aiming for a fall completion.

The project will go before Central Saanich council because it needs a permit to bring in a large amount of fill.

Central Saanich Mayor Ryan Windsor said he’s not forming an opinion on the facility until the proposal comes to council.

“To speculate on anything before it’s come to Central Saanich would not be correct,” Windsor said.

Galbraith is conducting public consultation with neighbours in order to assuage concerns about light, traffic, smell and noise.

“We are a year away from an election in Central Saanich, so all the counciIlors are acutely aware that whatever they approve now they could be branded with down the road,” he said.

“So it’s in our best interest to make sure mayor and council have all the information they need to deal with whatever public outcry that might come from this.”

While Winkel is relieved to see the end of the compost facility, he worries about light pollution from the greenhouses.

No night lights in plans

Galbraith said the greenhouses will be lit for about 12 hours a day, and in the winter the lights will shut off about 5 p.m., “so it won’t affect anyone’s care and enjoyment in the evening.”

The first building will require 150 employees, but Galbraith said once Health Canada approves expansion plans, the facility could employ up to 1,500 people. The plan is to shuttle employees to and from a park-and-ride near the Keating Cross Road industrial area to avoid traffic congestion on Lochside Drive.

Galbraith said the project will be good for Central Saanich, bringing direct and spinoff jobs such as construction, and potentially millions in tax revenue for the municipality. The business will be taxed at an industrial rate, as medical cannabis operations are not eligible for farm classification, according to the B.C. government.

Although Evergreen Medicinal has been growing cannabis in its windowless bunker since March 16, when it received its licence to cultivate from Health Canada, all cultivated cannabis is sitting in the vault. The eight-employee company is waiting for its licence to sell, Galbraith said.

Evergreen is funding its greenhouse project in part through a $25-million investment by Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp., a publicly traded company that invests in the Canadian cannabis industry.

“The interim agreement entered into with Cannabis Wheaton has secured for Evergreen the capital necessary to begin construction of one of the largest purpose-built indoor cannabis production facilities in the world,” Galbraith said in a press release announcing the investment.

Faced with the plans for one of the largest indoor cannabis facilities in the world, Winkel and his wife, Marjolyn, oscillate between indignation and resignation.

“This will change the valley so much,” said Winkel, who fears the marijuana facility will be another nail in the coffin for Central Saanich farmland.

“You have a small municipality that is up against a company with deep pockets. We [residents] don’t have any input, it’s already decided,” Marjolyn, 76, said.

“The valley has gone to pot.”

kderosa@timescolonist.com