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LETTER: Public meeting on cannabis important to attend

Town asking for residents' input at MCC next Wednesday, June 26
Letter to the Editor
2022-05-17-typing-pexels-donatello-trisolino-1375261jpgw960
Donatello Trisolino via Pexels

In my May 31, 2024 letter to PelhamToday, I urged our councillors and the Mayor to issue the final Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) Notice by the required June 17, 2024 deadline, which would have resulted in a final OLT decision approving our cannabis zoning bylaw amendment (c-ZBA) developed by the Cannabis Control Committee (CCC).

This OLT Notice would have removed the warehouse and office expansion approvals the Town offered Redecan in exchange for Redecan’s promise to support a Community Liaison Committee (CLC) to protect residents from Redecan’s odour releases. Redecan reneged and the Town had the right from the OLT to accordingly take back the warehouse and office expansion approvals. 

I questioned Mayor Junkin at the Council Meeting on Wednesday June 19, 2024 (see 25:45 to 35:35 in the video) and we learned that the Town did not exercise its right to take back the warehouse and office expansion approvals.  When I asked why not, CAO Cribbs answered that it was on legal advice.   

It was Mr. Cribb’s Report# 2024-0133 which council received at the May 29, 2024 council meeting which set in motion the planning for the June 26, 2024 Public Meeting which Mr. Cribbs assures us will get us to same place the OLT process would have, namely, the same c-ZBA without the warehouse and office expansion approvals.  Because the Town has already approved a new Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw (CZB), we now need to amend the CZB to bring in the c-ZBA provisions.  That’s what June 26th is all about.  I encourage the public to attend and help ensure this final zoning bylaw procedure gets done quickly and correctly.   

There has also been some confusion around what the c-ZBA does and does not do, most recently in the June 20, 2024 council news article where the article says that I stated that “the Town should have placed a request with the Ontario Land Tribunal to essentially shut down Redecan’s zoning agreement – and ability to function as company on its current site – by this past Monday”.   This statement is not correct.  The OLT Notice and the c-ZBA do not affect Redecan’s ability to function as a company and operate on its current site; and nor should they.    

Tim J. Nohara
Fenwick