Town of Pelham Council approves Zoning and Official Plan amendments for cannabis operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2020

Pelham, ON - On July 13, 2020, Town of Pelham Council passed bylaws to amend the Official Plan and the Zoning Bylaw as they pertain to cannabis operations within the town.

The amendment to the Official Plan Bylaw (4251 (2020)) adds policies for studies required to support the establishment of indoor cannabis and industrial hemp cultivation facilities, ensuring all potential adverse effects are studied in advance. These studies include an Emission Summary and Dispersion Modelling Report, Contingency Odour Mitigation Plan, Light Mitigation Plan, Contingency Light Mitigation Plan, and Traffic Impact, in addition to all other studies required as part of a re-zoning application.

The results of these studies establish minimum setbacks from sensitive land uses in the required site-specific zoning bylaw amendment, and may establish a maximum size for the facility. These studies may also establish minimum separation distances between a proposed facility and any existing indoor cannabis or industrial hemp cultivation facilities to mitigate adverse effects.

The amendment sets guidelines for the range of setbacks considered if indoor cannabis and/or industrial hemp cultivation is proposed through a zoning bylaw amendment. These setbacks are based on best practices and knowledge of the adverse effects currently experienced by residents. Given that these setbacks are guidelines, they can be increased or decreased based on the merits of an individual application.

The Zoning Bylaw (4252 (2020)) amendment establishes provisions applying to cannabis-related uses and industrial hemp-related uses in the Town of Pelham. The amendment establishes two new zones: Agricultural-Cannabis (A-CAN) and General Industrial-Cannabis (M2-CAN) with site-specific provisions for lot frontage, area, setbacks and lot coverage. 

The amendment adds definitions for “cannabis-related use – indoor”, “cannabis-related use – outdoor”, “industrial hemp-related use – indoor”, industrial hemp-related use – outdoor” and “sensitive land use” and establishes a general parking requirement of one parking space per 100 m2 (1076.39 ft2) of gross floor area for these uses.

The amendments replace the interim control bylaw which was set to expire July 15. 

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For more information, please contact:

Marc MacDonald
Communications and Public Relations Specialist
905-892-2607 x309
mmacdonald@pelham.ca