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Stonecrest Annual 2018
permitted and also provides additional clarity with respect
to the conditions which must be satisfied in order to legally
establish this use.
An alternate approach is to make no amendments to the
zoning by-law and instead determine that the cannabis pro-
duction facility use falls within existing use definitions and
zoning permissions. The Town of Erin considered this op-
tion following a review of its existing zoning by-laws. Town
planning staff determined that the cannabis production
facility use was already permitted within a number of zones
within the municipality and concluded that amendments to
its zoning by-laws was not necessary.
Currently, many municipalities have simply not reviewed
this issue and have made no changes to their zoning by-
laws to address cannabis production facilities. In these cas-
es, it will be difficult for a prospective licensed producer to A Micro Cultivation License is a facility which has 200 square
know whether the use is permitted without consulting with
the Municipality’s planning department.
For producers looking to build a new processing or produc-
tion facility, it is possible to apply to a local municipality
to amend or seek a minor variance to a zoning by-law as it
applies to a particular property. This process can be costly
and there is no guarantee of success. As such, prospective
licensed producers are advised to seek out locations where
cannabis production is permitted under the applicable
zoning by-law as of right, subject to the necessary federal
approvals.
With the Cannabis Act coming into force on October 17,
2018, Health Canada will permit Standard Cultivators to
grow either indoors (greenhouse, warehouse) or outdoor
(farming). With indoor production, the general requirement
is to follow Good Production Practices (GPP) standards,
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which are largely borrowed from a number of different
standards including Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
While indoor growing has the ability to provide odour con-
trol options, outdoor growing areas can also be provided
with odour control reduction systems. These systems are
subject the review of the municipality. A higher standard
of production can also be adopted to allow the facility to
export to other international markets. Namely Good Manu-
facturing Practices (GMP), which are closer to pharmaceuti-
cal standards, eliminates risks in producing contaminated
products. The producer must also establish appropriate
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) for their operations
(e.g., recall, record keeping, sanitation, pest management
as well as odour control).
There are two types of facility licenses that can be obtained
from Health Canada that permit the cultivation of cannabis.
metres or less of canopy space. Facilities with greater than
200 square metres of canopy space would require a Stand-
ard Cultivation License. Canopy space is the amount of
square footage dedicated to the vegetation and flowering of
cannabis plants, but does not include areas used for pro-
cessing, admini8stration, shipping or receiving. Additional
requirements include physical security of the property,
personnel security and analytical testing of microbial con-
tamination and pesticides.
Though medicinal cannabis has been produced in Canada
for sometime, this new legislation will encourage compa-
nies to set up new processing facilities or expand existing
operations. With growing concerns on the effect these fa-
cilities will have on their communities, Municipalities have
started to adapt to this growing industry to ensure these
facilities don’t leave a lasting negative impact.