The city will decide Dec. 17 whether or not to allow retail marijuana stores in Guelph.
That’s when a staff recommendation will go to council about the private stores.
Municipalities have until Jan. 22 to decide whether or not to permit the operation of retail stores within their boundaries.
Those stores would start opening across the province on April 1.
The city is looking for public input into the possibility of retail marijuana stores in Guelph and have set up an online survey on the city’s web site.
The survey can be found here.
The short, anonymous survey, for those 19 and older, asks questions about the level of concern over proximity to things such as school, parks and what people see as benefits/negatives of the stores.
It also asks whether the city should go further via its bylaws than provincially mandated-rules regarding where people can smoke marijuana.
“While municipalities will have the opportunity to permit or prohibit the operation of cannabis retail stores within their boundaries, the government will be responsible to license and to set controls for these stores through the Alcohol Gaming Commission of Ontario. There will be no caps on the number of licenses allowed in each municipality, however, a distance between private cannabis retail stores and schools will be established,” the city notice reads.
“Municipalities that permit stores to operate within their boundaries will receive a share of $40 million of funding over the next two years for costs related to hosting storefronts. Municipalities that do not allow retail stores will not be eligible for this funding.”
