Nelson council will hold a drop-in open house on Tuesday, May 1, to present the results of its recent community survey on cannabis and to propose some options for new regulations based on those results.
The options presented will focus on zoning, business licencing, public consumption and public cultivation. These are the areas municipal governments will be regulating once federal and provincial government regulations are in place this summer.
For example, city planner Pam Mierau will present some options about regulation of the location of retail cannabis stores.
In response to the survey question: “How far should cannabis stores be from schools, youth facilities, parks, and playgrounds?” 45 per cent of survey respondents said more than five blocks apart and 27 per cent said three to five blocks apart. Smaller numbers of responses ranged from fewer than three blocks to no restrictions at all.
To the related question of how many cannabis stores should be allowed in various areas of the city, the majority responses were two stores downtown, one store on Nelson Ave., none in the industrial-Lakeside area, one in Railtown and none at the mall.
On those questions and the related question of how far apart cannabis stores should be, Mierau has outlined the options as shown in the chart on the left. She has also placed those options on maps of the city to show their viability, including the conclusion that Option 1 is impossible because of the small size of Nelson. She will bring those maps to the open house to illustrate the challenges and discuss them with the public.
Mayor Deb Kozak said the overall survey results given by 1779 respondents show a balanced community perception of the issues.
“It showed there is a perception that we do need to have some regulations in place. You might think 99 per cent would say there should be no rules around it because some people think Nelson has that reputation. But people were really balanced in their response. It was a really calm response.
“I like that we got a broader perspective of various opinions and that is what you need if you want to make good policy.”
Related:
Nelson reveals cannabis survey results (April 2018)
The Star asked Kozak to respond to suggestions on social media that the city chose to use a mailed survey rather than an online one in order to skew the responses in favour of older residents.
She said the city wanted to limit the survey to residents of Nelson and that an online survey would have allowed responses from anywhere in the world.
“An online survey also does not hit all sectors of the community,” she said. “I believe you catch more people by doing a house to house survey. If something comes in your house mailbox you are probably going to look at it. Online is hit and miss and you may see it or you may not.”
The May 1 open house will take place at the Adventure Hotel from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com
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