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FIRE PREVENTION WEEK COMING UP
THURSDAY, OCT. 4, 2012
The annual Fire and Life Safety Fair happens Oct. 14 PAGE 15-16
Limit medicinal pot growers to rural zones: recommendation BY CAROL AUN
120 YEARS CELEBRATED
Mission Record
Council unanimously agreed Mission’s bylaws to prohibit agricultural use in industrial and commercial lands need to be enforced, but the debate about where to allow and how to regulate legal marijuana grow operations continues. Medical marijuana growers can hold either a licence to grow for personal use or one as a designated person growing for others; both are issued by Health Canada. In August, the Mission Chamber of Commerce raised safety concerns about growers using industrial/ commercial sites and urged council to uphold the district’s own bylaw. District staff suggested limiting medicinal marijuana growers to the rural and rural residential designated zones. Other conditions include having a building permit and regular safety inspections, producing the original licence indicating where, the number of allowable plants, the amount of dried marijuana allowed, and written consent from the land owner, if the property is rented. The plants also cannot be grown inside a family home. Mayor Ted Adlem was the lone supporter of the recommendation, while the rest of council opted to defer until more investigation is done. Coun. Larry Nundal questioned why someone growing tomatoes
Hundreds of people came out last Saturday when the District of Mission hosted the municipality’s 120th birthday. PAGE 3
NEW PROGRAM STARTS AT UFV Council continues to debate where to allow and how to regulate legal marijuana grow operations.
The graphic and digital design program is being offered at the Mission UFV campus. PAGE 14
RECORD FILE PHOTO
with the same chemicals, wouldn’t be required to go through this process and said he didn’t have an issue with someone growing two or three marijuana plants in the urban areas for their personal use. “I want to make sure we’re not putting people in distress,” he said. Nundal also added, “We overreact right away without knowing the impact on the innocent.” Coun. Jenny Stevens said she had “considerable reservations” to allowing licensed marijuana grow ops in dense areas, but knows it’s not as simple as restricting it to a certain region. She suggested looking into the
two types of licences separately. “Part of my concern is compliance,” said Coun. Tony Luck. “There’s no point in doing all this if there is no compliance.” Adlem was opposed to the delay, warning his fellow council members they are actually deferring public safety. “This gives us some control,” said Adlem. According to district staff, of the roughly 380 licensed marijuana growers in Mission, only one or two have sought out building permits and had their facility inspected for safety. “One in three fires is related to
this,” said Adlem. “That’s a public safety issue.” Staff will research council’s suggestions and discuss the issue further with the politicians in a workshop at a later date. Ottawa is working on changes to the Medical Marijuana Access Regulation program and will be directing authorized users to buy from permitted commercial growers instead. At last week’s Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting, civic leaders voted to support the decriminalization of marijuana. See page 13 for more details on the UBCM resolution.
RUSKIN WORK TO BEGIN The Ruskin Powerhouse upgrades will take about six years. PAGE 18
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