Pelham Town Council received its latest cannabis odour report during Wednesday’s meeting, one that could see local producers fined $2,500 daily for a first odour bylaw offence.
The report, which is scheduled to come back for passage in a few weeks, then pegs a secondary offense at $5,000, and a tertiary fine of $7,500.
The first challenge, however, lies in effective enforcement.
The report stated that the Town has received 309 odour complaints regarding cannabis producers since the beginning of 2020. However, bylaw enforcement staff backed up those complaints up with just one single detection using the “Nasal Ranger” odour device.
The Nasal Ranger did, however, detect high odour readings on 34 random tests during that time.
The explanation would seem to be that because most odours are temporary and transient, bylaw enforcement was unable arrive on site in a timely manner to back up hundreds of citizen complaints.
As such, Mayor Marvin Junkin asked if the current bylaw enforcement staff could be available to be on-call during off hours to respond quickly to complaints – as opposed to hiring what he termed an “odour expert” in a full-time position.
“Is that possible?,” Junkin asked. “As opposed to spending $80,000?”
CAO David Cribbs confirmed it was possible, and again stressed the difficult situation Pelham is in thanks to Health Canada’s lack of intended enforcement since cannabis was legalized by the Trudeau government in 2015.
“We have a federal government that is supposed to be regulating. Thank you federal government for setting us up with that,” Cribbs said, sarcastically.
“We don’t have guiding case law … just because a complaint phone call comes in, doesn’t mean it will result in a charge.”
It is also practically a given that cannabis producers will fight the Town over odour enforcement in court once enough fines have been levied. Ward 2 Councillor Brian Eckhardt, a former NRPS police officer, said that the Town’s case in those scenarios will need to be airtight.
“Any time that we are going to lay a charge, we’re going to get challenged on that. We have to be prepared to meet that challenge,” Eckhardt said. “(Cannabis producers) have a lot at stake in this, and they have a lot of money … this is gonna be big news, and that investigation has to be done properly.”
Junkin summarized the issue by adroitly saying “the whole thing stinks.”
Other council news via the Town of Pelham:
Hospice Niagara
Council received a presentation from Carol Nagy, the executive director of Hospice Niagara who thanked council for the continued support for the “Make Hospice a Home” campaign. The services and programs offered by Hospice Niagara to families and caregivers are varied and are offered at no cost.
Fonthill District Kinsmen Association
Council received a presentation from Thom Hounsell, the president of the Fonthill District Kinsmen Association and Kinsmen member Kevin Coyle. The presentation detailed the concerns and requests for compensation for the lost revenue from the 2024 Home Show, which was cancelled due to the unexpected transformer fire at the Meridian Community Centre in 2024. Council agreed to waive future costs for the Kinsmen for the rental fees for the Meridian Community Centre for the annual Craft Show and Home Show for the next two years.
Pelham-Greenbelt Natural Asset Management Project
Council received a presentation from Samantha Witkowski, Environmental Coordinator at the Town of Pelham, regarding the Pelham-Greenbelt Natural Asset Management Project. Work on the project began in 2023 with the support of a grant to identify, measure and value natural assets in Pelham. The project scope included the municipality of the Town of Pelham as well as the upper 12-mile Creek watershed. A total of 4,428 individual assets were identified within the project. www.pelham.ca/mnamp
Good Roads
Council received correspondence from Good Roads regarding the establishment of an Ontario Rural Road Safety Program. Good Roads has designed a multifaceted rural road safety program and has been in discussions with the Ministry of Transportation to fund it. The proposed program would target a municipality’s most dangerous roads, perform road safety audits, and install modern safety infrastructure that prevents serious injuries. This program is designed to be cost-effective while also providing rural municipalities with a direct means for addressing risk associated with their roadways. Town of Pelham council requested that the Government of Ontario take action to implement the rural road safety program that Good Roads has committed to lead. www.goodroads.ca
Asset Management Plan and Engineering Standards
Council received report #2024-0255 Asset Management Plan and Engineering Standards and awarded the assignment to update the Town’s Asset Management Plan to comply with Ontario Regulation 588/17 to GEI Consultants Canada Inc. and approved the funding from the Roads Capital Reserve in the amount of $87,091.30.
Forest Park
Council received Report # 2024-237 Recommendation Report for the Application for Zoning By-law Amendment – Forest Park and directed Planning staff to prepare the necessary Zoning By-law amendment for council consideration at the next regular meeting of council.
