A proposal to open a retail cannabis store in a strip mall near Carney and Fifth is being met with opposition.
A 25-name petition and a letter from two nearby homeowners have been submitted in time for Monday night's city council meeting calling on council to reject an application to open a store at 484 Douglas St.
Justin Mousseau and Ted Brown, who own and operate the nearby BX Pub and BX Cold Beer and Wine Store, are the applicants.
Concerns raised include the potential for an increase of unruly patrons and illegal activity. Its proximity to a residential neighbourhood and an apartment building where families with young children live is also being raised.
"The proximity to nearby high school and elementary schools is a concern as students walk past this location on a daily basis to get to and from school by crossing at the lights at Fifth Avenue and Carney Street," petitioners add.
The property is 422 metres from the Central Fort George Traditional School, 316 metres from the First Baptist Church, 453 metres from Watrous Park, 557 meters from Harper Park, 200 metres from the Moose Family Centre, and 204 metres from the Alano Society, according to a staff report.
In a letter to council, Mousseau and Brown emphasize their experience running the BX, saying it is a reason why council should support their proposal. They describe the spot where they want to open the store as a secluded commercial strip mall with easy access and parking and where there are only two other businesses - both of which submitted letters of support as did two other nearby businesses.
Staff is recommending a three-year temporary use permit be granted to the applicants to give council time to determine the impacts before deciding whether to rezone the site. That's not good enough as far as two nearby homeowners are concerned.
"We don't want to be part of an experiment to see whether there will be adverse impacts of a retail cannabis store on an adjoining residential community," Ken Simonar and Saphida Migabo say in their letter to council.
Council will also consider an application from Zaga's Hemp Shop owners Ginny and Fred Burnett to sell cannabis out of their store in Redwood Square at 1543 Victoria St.
One letter of opposition has been submitted on that application. Helen Sarrazin says it will only create more difficulties in an already troubled area of the city.
Staff is also recommending a temporary use permit for the Burnett's application.
Also on the agenda:
- Council will consider two options for adding 4,000 hours to the city's transit service.
Staff is recommending council accept an option to procure three buses and introduce frequent service along high-use routes to UNBC and CNC and additional off-peak service as needed at a cost of $265,881.
The other option is to procure one bus and focus equally on enhancing peak and off-peak service at a cost of $190,851.
Both options are projected to generate an additional $71,136 in revenue.
- A revamped sanitary sewer use bylaw will be presented to council.
It includes codes of practice for restaurants, vehicle repair shops and car washes and is aimed at reducing the cost of dealing with blockages in the system.
- Eleven bylaws adding up to $32.2 million worth of borrowing will be up for final reading after a campaign to force referendums on the items fell well short of the 5,546 responses needed during the alternative approval process.
- Council will be asked to authorize borrowing of slightly less than $1.6 million for the Killarney-Sussex-Wildwood sewer extension project.
The 80 homes that will benefit from the work will pay back the loan over 20 years at a pace of $99,819 per year through an addition to their property tax bills under a local service area agreement.
The original budget had been set at $1.9 million but the final cost came in at $1.65 million and $61,715 had been received in commuted payments to reduce the total to be borrowed.
- Staff is recommending council deny a permit to vary the floor area and height restrictions for an shop building at 2860 Gogolin Rd.
- Public hearings will be held for requests to rezone land at 7930 Bunce Rd. to allow for a two-lot subdivision and to close at road at 7919 Highway 97 South.
- Representatives from BC Hydro will give an update on the Peace to Kelly Lake capacitors project and representatives from Telus will give a presentation on its plan to extend its PureFibre fibre optic network to most of the households in the city.
