Here we go again...
Another pot shop proposed for Burnaby
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The proposed store would front onto Lougheed Highway on the ground floor of the mixed commercial and residential tower 3 in the Amazing Brentwood development, just down from Alpha Way.
Independent Coun. Dan Johnston said he’s supportive of cannabis stores, but he didn’t want to see a repeat of a previous proposal in the Edmonds area. For that proposal, residents living in the same building came out in droves to a public hearing in opposition, saying they were not adequately consulted by BC Cannabis Stores ahead of time.
In that public hearing, which heard from residents on both the denied Edmonds proposal and the forthcoming Metrotown shop, there was a sizable component of what proponents called fear mongering against cannabis.
And while council felt the opposition to the Metrotown store was purely for opposition to cannabis legalization, councillors said they felt the resistance to the Edmonds store came from honest concerns from local residents.
Director of planning and development Ed Kozak noted, however, that while the residential and commercial components in the Brentwood proposal were "technically in the same mixed-use volume, there’s very little relationship" between the 2.
Specifically, he said the pot shop would be on the Lougheed Highway side of the building, while the residential lobby would be on the opposite side of the development. And the gradient between the 2 leaves the lobby of the residential component a storey higher than the commercial side.
That appeared to satisfy Johnston, who said he had heard from people in the area that they were frustrated with the lack of a store in their neighbourhood and "fed up with going into Vancouver" for cannabis.
The matter will go to a public hearing on Aug. 31 at 5pm.
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I found
that council meeting (thankfully it's only about two zoning bylaw sites - the other is for new parking for a building in Big Bend). They'd received 32 e-mails in opposition and 8 in support of the store.
Quote:
The emails in opposition highlighted:
• Concerns that the neighborhood and amenities are more geared to a family environment and that the use was not appropriate in that context.
• That there are too many residential dwellings in proximity to the proposed unit.
• Concerns about the potential for cannabis smoke/odour in the area.
• Concerns about a potential for increases in crime, substance abuse and vagrancy.
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The emails in support referenced;
• The current inaccessibility of retail cannabis in the area.
• Illegal methods of procuring cannabis being mitigated by a legal retail operation.
• Trust for a Government run location being well operated.
• Support for a safe alternative to the illicit market.
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I skimmed through a few of the e-mails and I really wish people would check first and learn that Burnaby has rules about how far away schools, parks, etc have to be from any cannabis store - and they are from this one. At least it's less hysteria than the (shot down) Edmonds campaign.
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