Two local groups hoping to open up marijuana retail stores in Grande Prairie have been sent back to the drawing board. Their applications brought before a city committee Tuesday morning were denied because there wasn’t enough support from members.
Development Permitting Supervisor Stuart Wraight was at the meeting to ask council to approve the requests but says both were refused because of issues with location.
“The two here today were both refused development permits so they can’t currently go ahead in the locations they are proposing… The issue today was that the zoning for these two properties was in a local commercial area.”
The proposed stores were set to be on 100 Street and 68 Avenue. Residents living in those areas were at the meeting to voice their opinions against the locations for various reasons including proximity to daycare facilities, homes, bars and liquor stores.
Out of the first 15 business to be considered for licences, three other applicants are currently looking for locations and 10 have been approved throughout the city including locations on 102 Avenue, 100 Street, 99 Avenue, 120 Avenue, 116 Avenue, 100 Avenue and Westgate Drive. Wraight says that both sets of applicants have a few options moving forward.
“One is that they can look for another location that is in an area that doesn’t need to come to committee and the other option they have is to appeal committees decision.”
If the applicants choose to appeal the committee’s decision, the process could talk up to two months to complete.