Salmon Arm Council has given preliminary approval to a cannabis store proposed for the Mall at Piccadilly.
The location listed in a city staff report is the retail space just inside and to the left of the mall doors facing Sport Chek.
In B.C., the Liquor Cannabis Regulation Branch regulates private retail non-medical cannabis sales. The branch’s approval system, however, relies on local government responses to cannabis store applications, so the application has gone to council for approval.
Although city policy allows only four cannabis retail stores within ‘the core commercial area,’ the mall is outside that area and no maximum has been set in what’s called ‘the commercial area.’
The application for the Inspired Cannabis Co. is the tenth council has considered.
Six received approval from council, four of them in the core. One of the four is still listed as pending. Of the two approved outside the core, one is in Canoe and the other was to be built on the SmartCentres site near Walmart. The store on First Nations land did not require city approval.
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The proposal for the Inspired Cannabis Co. came to the Monday, Dec. 7 meeting of the city’s development and planning services committee, where it received preliminary but not unanimous approval. A public hearing will be held Dec. 14 and the public must attend via an online link, not in person. Written views can be sent in beforehand. To receive the meeting link, email: csimmons@salmonarm.ca
The report from city staff supports the application as it fits with city policy, but mentions a concern regarding the proximity of the proposed location to the public library.
“However, the policy only specifies that cannabis retail stores should not be located within 500 metres of a school but does not speak to libraries,” the report stated.
marthawickett@saobserver.net
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