By Jessie Weisner (Twitter: @Jessie__Weisner)

Clearwater County residents furious with council’s decision to rezone land for cannabis facility

Jul 25, 2018 | 9:24 AM

Clearwater County Council has approved the request from Element GP to rezone roughly 40 acres of land, contrary to the wishes of many county residents.

Council voted unanimously to pass the rezoning, causing a literal outcry among residents who attended the public hearing on Tuesday.

“They should have been stopped today,” says Aspen Muraski, landowner who will share a fence with the proposed development. “There was no need for this to move forward.”

Element GP aims to build a 55,000 square foot cannabis facility on just over 1.25 acres, with the possibility of expansion in the future.

More than 50 county residents attended the hearing, bringing more than 50 letters from neighbors opposing the proposed location for the development.

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Multiple concerns were brought up including water use, noise, odour, the effect on wildlife, increases in traffic and crime, decreases in property value, and a lack of overall communication with residents.

“Personally, we moved away from the city to get away from all the people, pollution and businesses in the city and to enjoy life out in the country,” says Jessica McPhee, a landowner directly east of the proposed facility. “Not with something like this going up in our backyard.”

Nearly half of the residents in attendance Tuesday spoke in front of council and Element GP representatives, many focusing on the negative impact on the local water supply and environment.

“The excessive amount of water that will be required for this facility to produce of 30,000 kilograms per year of dry marijuana will take a toll on the surrounding wells,” says McPhee. “The waste water entering the ground will also affect the surrounding crops, grass and our animals that are eating the grass.”

The majority of residents said they do support the construction of the facility and the positive economic growth the business will bring. However, one question echoed among everyone who spoke was why choose this land when there’s already land zoned for industrial use in Clearwater County?

“I’m not against this but I agree with some of the residents that this particular place will have a serious affect in the area,” says Caroline mayor John Rimmer. “Caroline already has a business park available, and we’ll do everything we can to find you a better place to inhabit.”

Caroline’s business park is a 112 acre industrial zoned area, but is not currently serviced.

Jeff Brookman, President and CEO of Element GP, says the reasons they chose the land was to be discreet and hidden behind trees on a rural property, and because of lesser costs.

“The reason that we chose that area wasn’t just for the trees,” says Brookman. “It’s because there are multiple opportunities to secure long term gas supply contracts, which then reduces our operating expenses.”

Brookman says they’ve completed an abundant amount of studies, including a hydro report, an environmental report and traffic report. However, they still have work to do before the development stage, specifically in water sustainability.

“We have to do the next phase of the hydro-geological study. We have to do a well-flow or draw-down test to make sure that the permeability and the aquifer is efficient, that it will be able to sustain that flow. Then they do an interference test to measure how far out that well is drawing from and to show it actually has no impact or hopefully has no impact on anyone else.”

Brookman added that Element has brought in three separate biologists with two separate firms that have concluded no species are endangered on the land.

However, Brookman did admit public consultation could have been better, even though it wasn’t a legal requirement.

“I’ll take the blame, we could have held an open house,” says Brookman. “I just didn’t see a need for an open house because we’re in a rezoning phase. We’re not in the development stage yet.”

Rezoning the land was the first of three steps in the possible construction of the facility. With that approved, the Municipal Planning Commission will now consider the subdivision of the 40 acres, and eventually consider the application for a development permit.

Brookman says Element has a goal to be more transparent with public engagement, and insists that it will take place throughout the process.

“We’re more than transparent and more than accountable and we’re prepared to meet anybody in the community and discuss this particular project with them, with the proper studies as well as the proper information.”

“We’ll do more than what you’ll see at a typical open house. We’ll have poster boards, but we’ll also do a presentation and then we’ll have a town-hall types session with a Q&A.”

Council voted to pass the bylaw after Brookman spoke, saying that the facility will be beneficial for the county, and that concerns can be addressed at a later stage.

“One of the stronger things for me today is that people in general were not opposed to the concept, which leads me to believe that it has potential to be good for the county,” says Councillor Jim Duncan. “Their concerns are personal though, and I think we can address those at the development stage.”

Residents immediately left Council chambers when the decision was made, saying they won’t give up on opposing the location of the facility.

“We will continue to rally the troops, we will get bigger and better,” says Muraski “We’ll see you at the next stage.”