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Ottawa’s bylaw enforcement officers have jumped into the battle against the city’s marijuana dispensaries.
The landlords of the Ottawa Cannabis Dispensary on Laperriere Avenue have been charged with violating city zoning bylaws. The cannabis shop is in a small house painted green, next to an auto body shop and a chip truck. It’s an industrial zone that does not permit retail shops.
The charge is a test case that will help city zoning officials decide whether to take action against other dispensaries.
“We need to make sure if we are going to charge (dispensaries), we have to make sure it sticks,” said David Wise, a program manager for zoning interpretation. “We have this court case going through. We want to know how the courts react to it, the arguments back and forth.”
The dispensaries also sell drugs illegally, of course, but that problem has largely been left to the police. They’ve raided 14 dispensaries since last November and charged employees with drug trafficking. Eight of the shops simply reopened, though, and new ones popped up.
But municipal officials have proceeded cautiously, saying it’s complicated.
Ottawa licenses everything from strip joints to food carts, but the city does not want to create a category for dispensaries for fear of legitimizing the illegal shops. As far as zoning goes, officials say the dispensaries are primarily a criminal, not a land-use problem.
Bylaw officers don’t investigate crimes, and the planning department has no authority to regulate illegal activity, according to a memo from city staff sent in response to a question from Coun. Mathieu Fleury, who is concerned that Montreal Road is turning into pot-shop alley.
“An example is a store which may sell stolen property — it may be zoned to permit a retail use, but the product being sold is not a land-use issue under the Planning Act. This responsibility rests with policing agencies and/or federal agencies.”
Ottawa is watching the opposite approaches taken by two other major Canadian cities wrestling with a proliferation of dispensaries. Vancouver has regulated the illegal shops, requiring business licences and setting out where they can be located and how they operate.
Toronto bylaw officers, on the other hand, have worked in partnership with police to shut down dispensaries, creating a double-whammy of criminal drug charges and municipal zoning and licensing charges.
The City of Toronto has laid 455 charges against employees, dispensary owners and managers, and landlords, says Mark Sraga, director of Investigation Services for the city’s Municipal Licensing & Standards. Most of the charges are still before the courts, but the 33 convictions so far have resulted in fines totalling $54,700, probation orders and store closure orders. The city is also using a “big hammer” by seeking a court injunction against a chain of Canna Clinic dispensaries that continue to operate despite the municipal and criminal charges against them, said Sraga.
The wording of Toronto’s bylaws might make prosecution easier. Toronto, for example, licenses shops that sell packaged food, allowing officials to charge dispensaries selling edible cannabis-laced products like cookies. In Ottawa, food licensing only applies to establishments that prepare food on site.
Ottawa officials are studying whether dispensaries are breaking any bylaws. Last year, a zoning violation notice was issued to Magna Terra Health Services on Iber Road in Stittsville, which is in an industrial zone. Operator Franco Vigile planned to fight it by arguing that he was operating a medical clinic, not a retail store. But Magna Terra closed in March after a police raid.
Now the test case is the little green shop on Laperriere, owned by Sukhwinder and Sukhdev Kaur Singh.
A court date for the zoning violation charge has been set for June 29.
One of the Singhs’ sons, Deep, works in the dispensary and the other, Bikram, works in the family auto-body shop next door. Deep says the dispensary provides low-cost cannabis to friends and family members who need it for medical reasons.
The councillor for the ward, Riley Brockington, says he supports medical marijuana, but not illegal shops. He was upset when the dispensary opened last summer, across the street from a Montessori school, with no notice to his office or nearby residents.
The city is also investigating two other dispensaries located in industrial zones, and others may be under the microscope as well, although Wise declined to give details. “We have a number of cases that are under investigation.”
The operator of a dispensary in an industrial park on Canotek Road in the east end said he deliberately chose an out-of-the-way location that was not close to schools, community centres and pedestrian traffic.
Charlie Cloutier said he wasn’t aware of any zoning violation. “This is news to me.”
This marijuana dispensary is tucked into an industrial park on Antares Drive.Another medical dispensary in an industrial park on Antares Drive does not have an overhead sign, just coverings on the windows saying “OMD.”
Landlord Tim Kimber is a medical marijuana user himself. He said he offered to rent space to the dispensary because it helps patients who can’t obtain the medical marijuana they want from the Health-Canada licensed mail-order companies. Legal suppliers aren’t allowed to sell edible products, for instance, or high-potency concentrates.
OMD is a good, quiet tenant, Kimber said, and he hasn’t received any complaints from neighbouring businesses. “There are no schools around it. It’s not a mainstream retail. It’s not in anybody’s face.”
Two customers interviewed outside OMD said they prefer the industrial park location, which is discreet. “Out of sight, out of mind,” said a 63-year-old man who was buying dried bud to help his back pain. His son, 33, who buys cannabis candy for back and knee pain, said the location is better than one on a major shopping strip because it’s less likely children will be around.
The Herbal Leaf marijuana dispensary on Bank Street opened recently.Location, location, location: Most dispensaries are on busy streets
Most of the city’s 15 dispensaries are tucked alongside stores, restaurants and other businesses on major streets such as Bank and Rideau streets, Montreal Road and Preston Street.
Coun. Catherine McKenney, who has four dispensaries in her downtown ward, says most of the complaints she’s received are not about what’s being sold, but rather the problems caused by customers parking illegally to shop.
She’s asked bylaw officers numerous times to respond to complaints about illegal parking near the Green Tree dispensary on Preston Street. The hair salon owner next door says dispensary customers park in his driveway while they run into the pot shop. Green Tree was raided by police in November, but reopened.
McKenney said she advises constituents who are upset about dispensaries to call police.
“I have some sympathy for police, who say, ‘We can close them down, but they just reopen, and is this the best way to deploy our resources?’ ” said McKenney.
One of the newest dispensaries, Herbal Leaf, opened recently on Bank Street near Glashan intermediate school.
Parent Stephanie ter Veen said she’s concerned because the shop is around the corner from the school on Arlington Avenue. (According to Google Maps, it’s 210 metres from the school to the shop.) Students roam the neighbourhood during lunch hour, and it won’t be long before they discover Herbal Leaf, said ter Veen.
Her daughter is in Grade 8, and knows of several students her age who smoke pot, she said. “I trust my daughter, but I feel anxious having a drug shop next to the school.
“I’m not sure the type of people who are selling the stuff. Are they normal people, or criminals?”
Inside the store, which has tinted windows that prevent anyone from seeing inside, there is a large space painted bright white with green trim. A small room with a door at the back contains cases of dried weed and cannabis-laced cookies, marshmallow treats, candy, tea, and vape pens loaded with cannabis oil.
During a recent visit, a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke filled the store, and one of the three young clerks on duty quickly stubbed out what he had been smoking.
The clerks said they only sell to customers 19 and over. One of them said he arrived one morning to find several youngsters waiting outside the store, but he shooed them away.
jmiller@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
The landlords of the Ottawa Cannabis Dispensary on Laperriere Avenue have been charged with violating city zoning bylaws. The cannabis shop is in a small house painted green, next to an auto body shop and a chip truck. It’s an industrial zone that does not permit retail shops.
The charge is a test case that will help city zoning officials decide whether to take action against other dispensaries.
“We need to make sure if we are going to charge (dispensaries), we have to make sure it sticks,” said David Wise, a program manager for zoning interpretation. “We have this court case going through. We want to know how the courts react to it, the arguments back and forth.”
The dispensaries also sell drugs illegally, of course, but that problem has largely been left to the police. They’ve raided 14 dispensaries since last November and charged employees with drug trafficking. Eight of the shops simply reopened, though, and new ones popped up.
But municipal officials have proceeded cautiously, saying it’s complicated.
Ottawa licenses everything from strip joints to food carts, but the city does not want to create a category for dispensaries for fear of legitimizing the illegal shops. As far as zoning goes, officials say the dispensaries are primarily a criminal, not a land-use problem.
Bylaw officers don’t investigate crimes, and the planning department has no authority to regulate illegal activity, according to a memo from city staff sent in response to a question from Coun. Mathieu Fleury, who is concerned that Montreal Road is turning into pot-shop alley.
“An example is a store which may sell stolen property — it may be zoned to permit a retail use, but the product being sold is not a land-use issue under the Planning Act. This responsibility rests with policing agencies and/or federal agencies.”
Ottawa is watching the opposite approaches taken by two other major Canadian cities wrestling with a proliferation of dispensaries. Vancouver has regulated the illegal shops, requiring business licences and setting out where they can be located and how they operate.
Toronto bylaw officers, on the other hand, have worked in partnership with police to shut down dispensaries, creating a double-whammy of criminal drug charges and municipal zoning and licensing charges.
The City of Toronto has laid 455 charges against employees, dispensary owners and managers, and landlords, says Mark Sraga, director of Investigation Services for the city’s Municipal Licensing & Standards. Most of the charges are still before the courts, but the 33 convictions so far have resulted in fines totalling $54,700, probation orders and store closure orders. The city is also using a “big hammer” by seeking a court injunction against a chain of Canna Clinic dispensaries that continue to operate despite the municipal and criminal charges against them, said Sraga.
The wording of Toronto’s bylaws might make prosecution easier. Toronto, for example, licenses shops that sell packaged food, allowing officials to charge dispensaries selling edible cannabis-laced products like cookies. In Ottawa, food licensing only applies to establishments that prepare food on site.
Ottawa officials are studying whether dispensaries are breaking any bylaws. Last year, a zoning violation notice was issued to Magna Terra Health Services on Iber Road in Stittsville, which is in an industrial zone. Operator Franco Vigile planned to fight it by arguing that he was operating a medical clinic, not a retail store. But Magna Terra closed in March after a police raid.
Now the test case is the little green shop on Laperriere, owned by Sukhwinder and Sukhdev Kaur Singh.
A court date for the zoning violation charge has been set for June 29.
One of the Singhs’ sons, Deep, works in the dispensary and the other, Bikram, works in the family auto-body shop next door. Deep says the dispensary provides low-cost cannabis to friends and family members who need it for medical reasons.
The councillor for the ward, Riley Brockington, says he supports medical marijuana, but not illegal shops. He was upset when the dispensary opened last summer, across the street from a Montessori school, with no notice to his office or nearby residents.
The city is also investigating two other dispensaries located in industrial zones, and others may be under the microscope as well, although Wise declined to give details. “We have a number of cases that are under investigation.”
The operator of a dispensary in an industrial park on Canotek Road in the east end said he deliberately chose an out-of-the-way location that was not close to schools, community centres and pedestrian traffic.
Charlie Cloutier said he wasn’t aware of any zoning violation. “This is news to me.”
This marijuana dispensary is tucked into an industrial park on Antares Drive.Another medical dispensary in an industrial park on Antares Drive does not have an overhead sign, just coverings on the windows saying “OMD.”
Landlord Tim Kimber is a medical marijuana user himself. He said he offered to rent space to the dispensary because it helps patients who can’t obtain the medical marijuana they want from the Health-Canada licensed mail-order companies. Legal suppliers aren’t allowed to sell edible products, for instance, or high-potency concentrates.
OMD is a good, quiet tenant, Kimber said, and he hasn’t received any complaints from neighbouring businesses. “There are no schools around it. It’s not a mainstream retail. It’s not in anybody’s face.”
Two customers interviewed outside OMD said they prefer the industrial park location, which is discreet. “Out of sight, out of mind,” said a 63-year-old man who was buying dried bud to help his back pain. His son, 33, who buys cannabis candy for back and knee pain, said the location is better than one on a major shopping strip because it’s less likely children will be around.
The Herbal Leaf marijuana dispensary on Bank Street opened recently.Location, location, location: Most dispensaries are on busy streets
Most of the city’s 15 dispensaries are tucked alongside stores, restaurants and other businesses on major streets such as Bank and Rideau streets, Montreal Road and Preston Street.
Coun. Catherine McKenney, who has four dispensaries in her downtown ward, says most of the complaints she’s received are not about what’s being sold, but rather the problems caused by customers parking illegally to shop.
She’s asked bylaw officers numerous times to respond to complaints about illegal parking near the Green Tree dispensary on Preston Street. The hair salon owner next door says dispensary customers park in his driveway while they run into the pot shop. Green Tree was raided by police in November, but reopened.
McKenney said she advises constituents who are upset about dispensaries to call police.
“I have some sympathy for police, who say, ‘We can close them down, but they just reopen, and is this the best way to deploy our resources?’ ” said McKenney.
One of the newest dispensaries, Herbal Leaf, opened recently on Bank Street near Glashan intermediate school.
Parent Stephanie ter Veen said she’s concerned because the shop is around the corner from the school on Arlington Avenue. (According to Google Maps, it’s 210 metres from the school to the shop.) Students roam the neighbourhood during lunch hour, and it won’t be long before they discover Herbal Leaf, said ter Veen.
Her daughter is in Grade 8, and knows of several students her age who smoke pot, she said. “I trust my daughter, but I feel anxious having a drug shop next to the school.
“I’m not sure the type of people who are selling the stuff. Are they normal people, or criminals?”
Inside the store, which has tinted windows that prevent anyone from seeing inside, there is a large space painted bright white with green trim. A small room with a door at the back contains cases of dried weed and cannabis-laced cookies, marshmallow treats, candy, tea, and vape pens loaded with cannabis oil.
During a recent visit, a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke filled the store, and one of the three young clerks on duty quickly stubbed out what he had been smoking.
The clerks said they only sell to customers 19 and over. One of them said he arrived one morning to find several youngsters waiting outside the store, but he shooed them away.
jmiller@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
