By Sheldon Spackman

Sylvan Lake Council passes first reading of cannabis-related bylaw changes

May 15, 2018 | 2:14 PM

The Town of Sylvan Lake is another step closer to updating its bylaws for the upcoming legalization of cannabis in Canada.

During their regular meeting on Monday, Council passed first reading of a Land Use Bylaw amendment that adds new definitions related to cannabis, a new use category and corresponding regulations for Cannabis Retail Sales use.

First reading was also given to an amendment that proposes ‘Cannabis Retail Sales’ as a discretionary use in three commercial districts and two direct control districts in Sylvan Lake.

“We took part in a number of public engagement activities to get a sense of what the public was interested in and what their concerns were,” states Joanne Gaudet, Communications Coordinator for the Town of Sylvan Lake. “We presented those results, as well as staff recommendations based on that feedback to the public last month and a number of those proposed amendments are in these new bylaws. That includes our 150 metre setback between cannabis retail, 150 metre setback from locations like playgrounds, schools and public health facilities and also keeping cannabis sales as a discretionary use within the community.”

In terms of public concerns regarding the retail sale of cannabis, Gaudet says they were varied from one extreme to the other.

Byelection April 22, 2024

Advance voting for Red Deer's byelection runs April 18-20

7h ago

family physician

New doctor working at Easthill clinic in Red Deer

8h ago

april 13

RCMP charge Innisfail resident following traffic stop

8h ago

“We did find a majority of the public was interested in finding and seeking a compromise approach, knowing that the province has implemented a number of its own regulations for things like cannabis sales, signage and the types of exteriors that these locations have and kind of a mandated process in how they’re approved,” she explains. “We were just looking at where and how we can place potential cannabis retail, again keeping it as a discretionary use when we identify areas in the community that we could potentially consider for location of these businesses.”

Gaudet points out there is still an approval authority that either approves or rejects any applications for the location of those sales, adding retail sales applicants would need to seek out their initial approval through the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) and get that permit from them.

“Again, it’s discretionary, it comes down to the development authority at the end of the day to say ‘yes’ this works or there’s additional considerations that we have to think about,” says Gaudet. “We will have that information up on our website as well which includes maps to kind of show what 150 metre setbacks look like.”

Public hearings regarding the newly proposed bylaw amendments will now take place on June 11 at 6:00 p.m. in Sylvan Lake Council Chambers with second and third readings to potentially follow.

Visit sylvanlake.ca/cannabis for more information.