City council is being asked to take a high-minded approach to allowing future medical marijuana grow operations within city limits.
During Wednesday night's meeting, council will decide whether to move forward on a recommended bylaw limiting newly licensed weed production facilities to parcels of land in the Agricultural Land Reserve and in industrial parks.
Staff have rolled council's directions from a June committee of the whole meeting into a potential policy that would create a new narcotics category for greenbelt, agriculture and forestry zones in the ALR and light, general and business industrial zones - specifically the BCR, Danson and Boundary Road industrial parks.
Key to the change would be the requirement of a rezoning application that would be subject to a public hearing for every potential facility.
The bylaw would allow production facilities licenced under Health Canada's new Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulation on ALR parcels that are a minimum of 15 hectares, have a minimum front, rear or side yard setback of 30 metres and an external setback of one kilometre from any property lines that are zoned for residential or correctional services use.
While the province has stated these federally licenced operations wouldn't qualify as farm use on agricultural land for property assessment purposes, it won't step in to keep weed from growing.
"Consistent with British Columbia government policy, the Minister of Agriculture does not intend to approve any bylaw that would prohibit the production of medical marijuana in the ALR," said a letter to the mayor from Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Coralee Oakes and Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick.
Those earmarked for the industrial parks would be subject to smaller internal setbacks but staff are recommending any potential sites already have the necessary water and sanitary sewer infrastructure in place and a road network to accommodate employees and transport deliveries.
And there wouldn't be any Breaking Bad-esque operations allowed, as changes to the zoning bylaw would specify grow operations are not allowed in shipping or cargo containers, rail cars, modular units, campers or any other kind of vehicle.
Existing bylaw definitions of agricultural uses and greenhouse and plant nurseries would be rewritten to specifically exclude the production of medical marijuana.
