Port Moody isn’t about to become Pot Moody anytime soon.
While the city’s policy planner, Jess Daniels, told council there are currently nine outstanding applications for cannabis retail shop licences in Port Moody awaiting civic approval or provincial assessment, city councillors decided Tuesday to hold the line with the two shops — burb at 1-101 Morrissey St. in Suter Brook Village and Kiaro at 2816 St. Johns St. — they approved last December.
Two others — Purp City at 2506 St. Johns. and Westcanna at 3034 St. Johns — were put on hold at that time even though they had already received provincial clearance. They’ll join the seven other applications that have yet to get a fit and proper assessment from the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch for another round of consideration by council after April 1.
But Coun. Zoe Royer said Westcanna will have to do much better with its application if it’s to move forward. “I saw applications with much greater community benefit,” she said. “I want to see something uniquely Port Moody.”
But Coun. Meghan Lahti said demanding more from applicants is changing the rules midway through the process. “We didn’t put charitable giving as a parameter for approval,” she said.
Mayor Rob Vagramov suggested keeping the applications from Purp City and Westcanna in the mix also ensures a fairer process for the other seven applicants, which would otherwise be fighting for the final spot of five cannabis shops that will be allowed to open in the city.
“You want something that… is the best you can get,” he said. “I definitely see value at looking at them in the context of a second round.”
Coun. Hunter Madsen said as the approval process drags on, some of the applicants may be lost to attrition because they’re all paying rent on locations, adding, “They’re all kind of suffering if we delay.”
City manager Tim Savoie said while a second round of consideration by council for potential cannabis shops had been anticipated for last October, a timeline that was then extended to Dec. 31, there’s still no firm idea from the province when the remaining applicants will clear their assessments.
Daniels told council even an April deadline “could be optimistic.”
