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“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.