The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) will be considering rezoning a property to facilitate a cannabis production facility in Lone Butte on Dec. 6.
The application by Jeff Kline is for a 4.63 acre lot at 6640 Perrey Road. The property is currently zoned as rural residential and, if approved, would be rezoned into an industrial designation.
The current recommendation by the advisory planning commission is for the application to be rejected because of smell, it being a residential area, potential security issues and setting a precedent.
“Based on the existing Rural 2 (RR 2) zone and the surrounding rural residential and agricultural land use designations, a heavy industrial land use to facilitate cannabis production disturbs the residential character of the neighborhood,” the rationale for the recommendation states. “Further, the CRD policy 10.3.9 under the Official Community Plan intend to limit this use to areas suitable for industrial use; and encourage the infill of existing vacant industrial sites rather than designating additional industrial lands. Therefore, planning staff is not supportive of this rezoning and OCP amendment.”
It’s noted that if the application moves forward, they’d have to comply with provisions of agricultural policy with respect to fencing and buffering along the west boundary as it is adjacent to and ALR parcel.
“The recommendation from staff is to reject the application; however, if the Board decides to accept the application, it would go to a public hearing before coming back to the Board for third reading and adoption,” according to a CRD spokesperson. “CRD planning staff are not supportive of this rezoning and OCP amendment for a few reasons: a) Based on the existing Rural 2 zone and the surrounding rural residential and agricultural land use designations, changing the property to a heavy industrial land for cannabis production would disturb the residential character of the neighborhood. b) This property falls within the South Cariboo Official Community Plan, which seeks to limit designating new industrial properties and instead encourage use of existing vacant industrial sites.”
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