Proposed municipal regulations to govern the budding Victoria marijuana dispensary businesses are expected to weed out a number of pot shops downtown.

The proposed changes go before councillors this week and, if approved, city staff expect to have the necessary bylaw changes ready by June. Once the zoning bylaw has been changed, shop owners would have to apply for individual rezonings to operate.

article continues below

“One of the things that I was very happy to see, and certainly one of the things I was pushing for, is case-by-case, one-on-one rezoning for anyone who wishes to open under the new regulations,” said Mayor Lisa Helps.

“That will give communities [and] neighbourhoods some certainty and some opportunities to weigh in on a case-by-case basis,” she said.

The number of marijuana-related businesses in Victoria has exploded in the past 20 months from four to an estimated 35, including about 32 storefront marijuana retailers.

Given that the regulations would prohibit marijuana dispensaries from locating within 200 metres of a school or each other — and the city plans to process applications on a first-come, first-serve basis — that could mean a mad scramble to get permits.

City staff suggest there may be room for flexibility in the policy calling for the 200-metre distance between storefronts in large urban centres or downtown. Helps thinks the minimum distance should stand.

“I don’t think we want these concentrated in the downtown or concentrated anywhere. I will ask staff where they got the language with regard to flexibility,” Helps said.

She noted undergoing a rezoning is a fairly onerous process and that all costs associated with the new policy will be borne by the applicants. “We’ll see who’s serious about these businesses and who is not,” Helps said.

Staff have backed off earlier recommendations to both ban the sale of marijuana edibles and ban delivery of marijuana products.

Those changes were welcomed by Kate Dalgleish, whose Green Mountain Consulting specializes in guiding marijuana-related businesses, and Alex Robb, spokesman for Trees dispensary.

The issues surrounding the sale of edibles were huge, Dalgleish said.

“I think that’s probably one of the biggest pieces of contention with dispensaries because for a lot of dispensaries it’s a large part of their business, and it’s a large part for the patients who are dependent on that,” she said.

Dalgleish predicted if there is flexibility in the distance between storefronts in the downtown, there will be about 20 shops when the dust settles.

“I think there’s probably going to be a natural contraction in the market because it’s sort of untenable how many dispensaries there are open right now. I think that’s just plain market forces. But the regulations probably also will condense down the number of them,” she said.

Robb called the proposed regulations “a step in the right direction.”

“I think the City of Victoria is probably going to use these [regulations] to ensure there is a baseline standard for all dispensaries to follow. This will be a way for them to close down dispensaries that prove to be a nuisance,” Robb said.

He said there’s no question operators will be scrambling to get in line for a licence once the zoning changes are in place.

“Everyone operating today who doesn’t want a business licence shouldn’t be operating after these licences come through,” Robb said.

NEW REGULATIONS

Key provisions of the new regulations include:

• Marijuana businesses must be at least 200 metres from schools and other medical-marijuana operations.

• No marijuana use allowed on site.

• Limit hours to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• No other business can be conducted on the premise of a medical-marijuana retailer.

• Charge an annual licence fee

of between $4,000 and $5,000.

• No one under 19 on premises.

• No advertising to minors.

• Odour-control/air filtration systems must be used.

• Health warning signs posted.

• Security plan required.

• Minimum of two employees on site.

• Video surveillance cameras required.

• Secure storage of valuables

on premises required.

bcleverley@timescolonist.com