Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has directed city staff to "take all the necessary steps" — including consulting the public — to prepare the next council for the arrival of private retail cannabis stores.

Watson issued staff their marching orders at the end of Wednesday's city council meeting.

Newly elected councillors will have to decide during their first or second meeting after they take power Dec. 1 whether Ottawa should opt in or out of hosting cannabis retail shops. If council allows the marijuana stores, they'll have to be up and running by April. 1.

"So staff will have to have done some public consultation on that to get an idea of what the community feels about that," said Anthony Di Monte, the city's general manager of emergency and protective services.

"We're looking at online, maybe phone-type public consultation, and probably councillors will want to do some [consultations] in wards. So we have to have all that ready, and the team is working diligently on that."'

The new council will also hear from the city's various departments on the economic, social and public health ramifications of hosting cannabis stores.

Anthony DiMonte, general manager of emergency and protective services, said public consultations will take place after the Oct. 22 municipal election. (CBC)

Consultation to start after election

The provincial government scrapped a previous plan to sell legal marijuana through an arm of the LCBO, opting instead to handle retail sales through private businesses. But the details of how that will work are few, and new legislation isn't expected to be tabled at Queen's Park until after the Oct. 22 municipal election.

We want a public consultation process that's valid. - Anthony Di Monte, GM, emergency and protective services

Di Monte said while the city will ask residents for their general thoughts on cannabis retail stores, including where they might be located, staff will also want to ask more specific questions based on the actual legislation passed by the province.

"We want a public consultation process that's valid," Di Monte said.

Limiting concentration

One of the issues the city will be paying special attention to is zoning. While Ottawa has the legal authority to limit the concentration of some sorts of businesses — think strip clubs and, more recently, payday loan outlets — it's not at all clear that the city will have similar powers when it comes to pot shops.

"What concerns me is, do we have any control over the number of shops in a particular neighbourhood?" Watson said. "You don't want to see 10 pot shops on Rideau Street, for instance."

The new provincial legislation could provide that authority, Di Monte said, "but if it doesn't, we're going to have to ask the government to have those powers."