SACKVILLE, N.B. — Sackville residents will have an opportunity to raise their concerns or voice their support for a proposed change to the town’s zoning bylaw that would allow small cannabis grow-ops to be developed in agricultural zones.
A public hearing will be held June 10 at 7 p.m. in town council chambers for consideration of a request to amend the bylaw to incorporate cannabis cultivation as a permitted use in the agriculture/conservation zone.
Planner Lori Bickford explained that an application has been received by local resident Dan Fillmore to permit micro-cultivation of cannabis in the town of Sackville. At this time, however, the zoning bylaw prohibits the growing of controlled substances in its definition of agricultural uses.
Bickford said council can consider amendments that would permit these smaller cannabis grow-ops outside of the industrial zone, which is the only setting in which it is currently permitted.
“So we would be looking at introducing definitions for micro and standard cultivation as well as what zones that would be permitted in within the town.”
Bickford pointed out that, at the time of the last zoning bylaw review in 2016, before legalization of cannabis came into effect in Canada, most of the grow-op facilities that were being built were larger ones. So it made sense to confine them to the industrial areas.
The newer micro-facilities, however, have a maximum footprint of 2,000 square feet and can integrate better into an agricultural setting than an industrial zone, she said.
Prior to the public hearing, the proposed bylaw will be referred to the Southeast Planning Review and Adjustment Committee for its views.
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