A plan by a prospective Port Moody cannabis retailer to give away free hand sanitizer on Saturday has been extinguished.
In a notice posted on its Facebook page, Stellava Ventures said its cancelling the giveaway “due to licensing concerns and keeping the community safe at all costs,” after discussions with the city of Port Moody, the city’s police department and Fraser Health.
Instead, the company will donate the 40 litres of sanitizer it acquired from a North Vancouver distillery to the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation, Community Ventures Society and Share Family and Community Services.
Earlier, Stellava said it would refill for free any containers people brought by its planned Purp City cannabis shop at 2506 St. Johns St. on Saturday, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Stellava’s application for a cannabis retail license was one of two put on hold by Port Moody council last December, after the proposed location was deemed too close to the city’s arts centre, which is located 61 metres away — within the prescribed 75-metre buffer zone around sensitive uses like community centre and playgrounds.
However, the application, along with another by Westcana for a shop at 3034 St. Johns, are to be part of a second wave of seven applicants council is to consider sometime this spring.
