Surrey Mayor and Council will be voting to approve a phased plan for cannabis operations in Surrey tonight. The proposed plan is to create a pilot store on City-owned property at 13455 72 Avenue within the Newton Town Centre, and to select a cannabis business operate it.
The plan also indicates that there will initially be a limit of one retail cannabis store in each of Surrey’s six town centre. The stores will be on City-owned property, and if no such land exists that meets certain criteria, the City will then deliberate on land owned by the Province. If no province-owned land meets the criteria, the City will consider privately-owned property.
“This framework is going to result in a lengthy implementation timeline,” said Jasroop Gosal, Policy & Research Manager for the Surrey Board of Trade. “Many cities from across the province allow retail operations to occur on private land, which meet the prudent criteria put in place by the Provincial Government. The report also doesn’t indicate a timeline for the pilot, initial phase, or future phases.”
In the future phases, staff will consider more than one cannabis store per city centre.
The Surrey Board of Trade asks that the City of Surrey work with the business community when determining the framework and application process to ensure it is fair and consistent with other municipalities across the province.
Read the City’s corporate report here.
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Jasroop Gosal, 604-634-0345, jasroop@businessinsurrey.com
