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Photo by Liam Richards / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

The federal government is expected to pass legislation this summer that will make it legal for people to buy and sell pot. The provincial government has said the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) will be in change of regulating businesses that make and sell weed in the province. The SLGA will issue pot-selling licences to 60 private vendors, including seven in Saskatoon.

City staff have conducted surveys and spoken to community leaders to gain insight into how people want pot shops to be regulated in the city.

Between Jan. 24 and Feb. 7, 3,708 people completed an online survey about how the city should deal with marijuana legalization.

Respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of separation distances between pot shops and places where young people and families gather: 78 per cent said it’s somewhat or very important to keep pot shops away from elementary schools; 75 per cent said they should be kept away from organizations that support youth or vulnerable people; 70 per cent said they should be located away from parks and playgrounds; 68 per cent said they should be away from child care facilities; 67 per cent said they support a separation distance from high schools and 50 per cent said they should be kept away from community centres.

A majority of respondents said they favoured a separation distance of more than 300 metres — greater than two blocks.

However, the city report says a distance of 300 metres is “unnecessarily restrictive” and recommends the city instead adopt a 160-metre (one block) separation distance between pot shops and schools, parks, community centres, recreational facilities, libraries and child care centres. That distance is the minimum separation distance in place between adult service agencies and schools, parks and recreational facilities.

One exception to that recommendation is in the Broadway district. The city notes there are two schools within the small Broadway business district, so forcing pot shops to be 160 metres away would make it impossible for such businesses to set up in the neighbourhood. The report says council can choose to make an exception and allow marijuana retailers to set up within 60 metres of schools and other centres that could be affected by minimum separation distances.

DeeAnn Mercier, executive director of the Broadway Business Improvement District, said a 160-metre separation distance in the Broadway area would be “restrictive” and she hopes council — if it decides to impose separation-distance requirements for pot shops — relaxes them in the area.

“We don’t want to be regulated to such a level that businesses are not able to participate in the cannabis economy on Broadway,” she said.

Mercier said she wants cannabis and edible cafés to have opportunities to open in the Broadway district when such products can be legally sold, likely in 2019.