City council voted unanimously on Monday night in favour of advancing to final reading an application from the provincial government to open a retail cannabis store in the Westgate Shopping Centre.
Their decision followed a public hearing in which one person spoke against the proposal.
Retired teacher and former school board trustee Bruce Wiebe raised concerns both about the effects of cannabis and the proposed location.
According to his research, Wiebe said consuming cannabis can cause panic and paranoia, slowed reaction time, impaired coordination, impaired memory, increased appetite, altered judgment and sensation and altered pain sensitivity.
Wiebe said he raised those points because he and his wife had been school teachers for 35 years.
"In all the years we've worked with children, we've always done our best to ensure that children received the best information, the best role modelling that was possible," he said.
Wiebe said opening a store at that location runs counter to that principle, noting that a large number of children live in College Heights and go to Westgate with their parents to shop.
Wiebe's concerns fell short of swaying city council members.
Coun. Kyle Sampson said he's heard similar concerns from other people but pointed to a "very thorough" package from the Liquor and Cannabis Distribution Branch regarding how they will handle their products.
"It's a well locked-up, privately-kept establishment," he said.
Likewise, Coun. Susan Scott said the measures that are proposed for handling the store's stock are "sound."
Coun. Cori Ramsay said the location is a kilometre away from every school in the area and noted no minors will be allowed on the premises.
"The province has done a really great job in setting the boundaries and I know that they're going to go to that level," she said.
Mayor Lyn Hall said the bylaw related to such stores gives council the opportunity to judge each application on its particular merits.
"This one here for me hits the mark," Hall said.
The plan is to open a BC Cannabis Store at a spot that was previously home to a bank.
The front windows would be frosted to Health Canada's requirements that cannabis not be visible to minors and the store would maintain a two ID policy for age verification.
Customers will be limited to choosing what they want from displays with staff retrieving the purchases from a secured area at the back of the store.
The application remains subject to the formality of being passed through final reading, likely at the next council meeting in two weeks.
Second store in works
Also on Monday, council voted to advance to a public hearing an application to open a privately-run retail cannabis store in a 4,300-square-foot corner of the old Sears department store location in Pine Centre Mall. And council advanced a proposal to include cannabis production in the city's heavy industry zone.
