Town says no to pot stores - for now

Lord Mayor Betty Disero couldn’t make the message more clear —Niagara-on-the-Lake is saying no to recreational marijuana sales, but only to buy time.
With the newly-elected councillors not meeting again until January and work still to be done on the budget, there isn’t time for a “meaningful engagement” with the community before the provincial deadline of Jan. 22 for a municipal decision, said Disero.
The question is whether NOTL will opt in or out of allowing private retail marijuana stores, and if a decision is not submitted to the Ontario Alcohol and Gaming Commission by that date, a municipality is assumed to be saying yes. Disero wants time not only for public input, but to watch what unfolds as other municipalities choose to allow retail sales.
She is concerned the rules keeps changing, with varying provincial announcements about the numbers of stores and licences that would be allowed. It's also problematic that municipalities at this point have no mechanism to regulate the number of retail outlets and their locations, other than provincial legislation that states they must be 150 metres or more from a school or a place where children congregate, she said.
Toronto has said yes to retail outlets, but has asked the province about zoning to limit the number of stores and dictate their locations.
“I want to take the time to have community engagement and see what’s going on in other areas that have chosen to opt in,” she said. “I don’t want to be one of the first ones in. I would like to figure out the rules of the game before we make a decision.”
Once a municipality agrees to allowing cannabis stores, it can’t change that decision, but can choose not to and later reverse that decision, Disero explained.
Coun. Norm Arsenault referred to chatter from the community that “NOTL is never opting in,” and said he too wanted to make it clear that is not the case — council is just waiting to learn more about the regulations.
Another misconception pointed out by Disero is that the Town is passing up large sums of money from the province by saying no to pot stores.
The provincial government has allotted money for enforcement — $5,000 and a little extra based on population for a municipality opting in the first year. The total would amount to about $13,000, Disero said, with “a little bit more money” in the second year. But it’s being offered to help with enforcement, and it’s unclear whether it would go to the Town, or to the Region for the Niagara Regional Police Service. What kind of enforcement might be necessary is also unclear, she added.
Coun. Erwin Wiens, a police officer in Hamilton, said at this time “enforcement is a complete unknown,” and agreed NOTL shouldn’t jump in without more information. “We have the luxury of watching those who are opting in and have to work it out. Until we know more it wouldn’t be prudent to opt in.”
NOTL has been cautious and conservative in the past, said Coun. Clare Cameron, and she supports the municipality continuing to be cautious on the matter of retail cannabis stores. At her request, in addition to holding a public meeting, council also agreed to a survey, a Join the Conversation discussion on the Town’s website, and the use of technology to encourage residents’ input, with the results to be included in a report to council.
The province has targeted April 1 as the day marijuana stores become legal in the towns and cities choosing to allow them.
St. Catharines has held a public meeting on the subject but has not made a decision; Port Colborne council debated a staff recommendation to allow the sale of marijuana but deferred a decision until the new year; and Niagara Falls council has also discussed the issue but has put off making a decision until January.