Happy New Year residents of Pelham! It is hard to believe it was September 12th, 2023 when I reported to you last on Pelham’s cannabis regulations in PelhamToday (see https://www.pelhamtoday.ca/letters-to-the-editor/commentary-non-transparent-council-meeting-a-disappointment-7531082).
Today’s note will bring you up to date with the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) Case Management Conference held this Wednesday, January 17, 2024, which is finally putting pressure on Redecan to live up to its promises to the Town and residents of Pelham.
You may recall as Chair of the former Cannabis Control Committee (CCC), I came before council on June 7, 2023 to assist our new council in moving the “odour ball over the finish line” by establishing the Redecan Community Liaison Committee (CLC) agreed to by Pelham and Redecan through Minutes of Settlement (MOS); and approved by the OLT in its Interim Order (Case No. OLT-22-001930 dated August 23, 2022) which also approved our cannabis Official Plan Amendment (c-OPA) and Zoning Bylaw Amendment (c-ZBA).
The c-OPA and c-ZBA are designed to protect Pelham residents from future cannabis facilities that may wish to set up shop in Pelham. But it is the MOS which is intended to protect residents from odour pollution from Redecan, whose operation on 182 Foss Road pre-existed these new Pelham cannabis regulations.
CannTrust (now Phoena) decided to get out of the cannabis business in Pelham last year and liquidated; as a result, the legal nonconforming status it once had to operate its Balfour facility in Pelham has effectively expired. Any new cannabis operation on the Balfour site would be governed by the new Pelham cannabis regulations.
The Redecan CLC, which is fully defined in the MOS, is designed to reduce the adverse impacts that residents surrounding Redecan continue to experience from Redecan’s odour emissions; and the CLC activities are to be overseen by the Town’s own odour professional, Mr. Phil Girard, P.Eng, in accordance with the MOS. Residents within 1 km of the Redecan facility can apply to participate in the CLC.
To be clear, the Redecan CLC will not be using our Bylaw/Planning Departments’ current Nasal Ranger protocol, which both Mr. Girard and the CCC said from the beginning would not work; and which residents have had to suffer with for the past three years without any results. Rather, it will follow best odour management practices under the Ontario Environmental Protection Act.
To be clear, the Redecan CLC will not be using our Bylaw/Planning Departments’ current Nasal Ranger protocol, which both Mr. Girard and the CCC said from the beginning would not work
The staff report presented to council on September 6, 2023 confirmed that Redecan had not complied with paragraph 92 of the OLT Interim Order by providing the specified odour mitigation documents required to establish the Redecan CLC, to the Town’s and Mr. Girard’s satisfaction.
In light of this, I recommended to council that they instruct legal firm Aird and Berlis to take the legal steps afforded by the OLT Interim Order to deal with Redecan’s noncompliance. Namely, Redecan needs to live up to the bargain we struck in the MOS and reflected in paragraph 92 of the Interim Order; or the Town will take back the site-specific gifts we gave to Redecan in sections 7 and 8 of the c-ZBA, which were conditional on Redecan following through with the Redecan CLC in good faith.
Fortunately, council did direct Aird and Berlis to go back to the OLT for assistance, and the conference held yesterday produced the desired result for Pelham. Namely, the OLT has provided a deadline of May 30, 2024 for Redecan to provide the specified odour mitigation documents to the satisfaction of the Town and Mr. Phil Girard, failing which, Aird and Berlis, acting on behalf of the Town, will ask the OLT to remove sections 7 and 8 of the c-ZBA and issue its Final Order.
Should Redecan act in bad faith and not follow through with the Redecan CLC, rest assured that the CCC had previously identified straightforward next steps Pelham can take to address the continuing odour problem. These next steps have already been communicated to our new councillors and our mayor and will be brought forward by former CCC members if necessary, but for now, I remain hopeful that Redecan and its parent Tilray will want to co-exist equitably with the many residents surrounding its facility on all sides.
Thank you to all the residents who attended the OLT Conference yesterday. Your concerns and participation were acknowledged by both our outside legal counsel Ms. Laura Dean (who is with Aird and Berlis and continues to represent Pelham and its residents very well) and the OLT member who presided over the conference. Slow and steady wins the race.
Tim J. Nohara was the Chair of Pelham's former Cannabis Control Committee.
