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New TNRD bylaws address ‘dry cabins’ and cannabis sales

‘Dry cabins’ have been approved for parts of Loon Lake, while cannabis sales will be restricted.
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The TNRD has given first reading to a bylaw that would allow the building of ‘dry cabins’ along the south shore of Loon Lake, to help property owners who lost buildings in last year’s wildfires. Photo: Shawn Cahill.

At its Board meeting on March 15, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) gave first reading to a bylaw to allow “dry cabins” to be constructed at Loon Lake, and took steps to end sales of recreational cannabis in rural areas of the TNRD ahead of provincial and federal changes coming later this year.

Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2645, 2018, was given first reading by the Board and referred to homeowners on the south shore of Loon Lake who were impacted by last summer’s wildfires.

The amending bylaw for “dry cabins”—seasonal cabins without pressurized plumbing that do not require connection to an on-site sewerage disposal system—sprung from a number of recommendations passed by the Committee of the Whole in fall 2017 to assist wildfire-impacted property owners.

The bylaw rezones 50 water-access parcels along the south shore of Loon Lake, allowing owners of seasonal recreational property with no road access and no servicing to reconstruct a cabin without plumbing and without onsite sewerage disposal system.

The “dry cabin” zone is intended only for hardship cases in the case of water access, off-grid, seasonally used parcels where a lack of access and limited developable land area makes conventional residential construction impractical. Any new construction on the south side of Loon Lake, regardless of zone, will require additional geotechnical assessment and mitigation works.

The amending bylaw will now be mailed to the impacted Loon Lake property owners for input.

Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2646, 2018, was given first and second reading by the Board and will go to a public hearing at a future Board meeting.

The amending bylaw addresses federal and provincial regulatory changes for recreational cannabis sales and will regulate commercial sales in the context of local government land-use jurisdiction. It will end sales in commercial zones ahead of the provincial and federal changes, thereby ensuring that potential operations do not have an argument for legal non-conformity or “grandfathering”.

The amendment will exclude the sale of cannabis as a part of retail commercial use in rural areas and direct these ventures to municipalities that have broader authority and powers, such as business licensing. Alternatively, it would compel a retail sales outlet to apply for rezoning to be lawful in the TNRD.

Further bylaw changes are likely once higher orders of government settle into a stable regulatory regime and the relevant issues are identified.

Once Bill C-65, the Cannabis Act, becomes law, British Columbians older than 19 will be able to buy non-medical cannabis through privately run retail stores or government-operated stores and government online sales.



editorial@accjournal.ca

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