Agassiz-Harrison Observer
www.agassizharrisonobserver.com
Hope construction means bus diversion for Route 22 Jessica Peters Black Press Media
Transit users in Hope and Agassiz have a deviation to be aware of starting July 22, and continuing until August. The deviation is for Route 22, and is due to construction on Park Street and Third Avenue in Hope. Exact completetion date is still to be determined, so BC Transit could not provide an end date for the disruption. But starting July 22, the stop on Park at Third has been closed. Buses will drop passengers near Park and Fourth, and will also pick up passengers in that vicinity. BC Transit says they are unable to put a temporary stop in at this location, so riders are asked to flag the bus down to board. Route 22 to Hope From Highway 1, the bus
will turn left on Coquihalla St., travel on Coquihalla St. to Fourth Ave., turn right on Fourth Ave. to Park St., then left on Park to resume regular routing. Route 22 to Agassiz From the timing point on Third Ave., the bus will make an immediate left on Commission Street to Highway 1. The bus will then turn right on Highway 1 to resume regular routing. “This deviation should have little effect on the timing of the bus, but will inconvenience some passengers,” BC Transit said in an email. “We apologize for this disruption, and will resume regular routing on completetion of this construction project. We thank you for your patience in this matter.” To see the alert on the BC Transit website, visit www.bctransit.com/hope/schedules.
Thursday, July 25, 2019 A3
NEWS
Still no decision on cannabis stores in Kent Grace Kennedy The Observer
The future of retail cannabis stores in the District of Kent is still up in the air after the public hearing Monday (July 22), when council decided to send the bylaw back for more amendments. Five people showed up to the public hearing and only two spoke about the proposed bylaws, which would allow for one government-run cannabis store in the Agassiz townsite. Downtown Agassiz resident Benny Wolfe spoke at length about the dangers recreational cannabis for young adults, drawing parallels between underage youth who ask older friends to purchase alcohol for them and underage youth who may do the same with pot. “You need to show leadership and say no to cannabis stores in this community and say no to recreational drug use,” Wolfe told council. Ian Coutu also spoke before council, but shared his thoughts from the per-
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spective of a pharmacist who often sees people prescribed drugs like Sativex, an expensive, cannabis-based drug prescribed to people dealing with multiple sclerosis. “Issues that I see are mostly with access to medications,” Coutu said. “We have seen cases where people are prescribed things like Sativex … and I think in cases where somebody needs something for sudden onset, it would be beneficial both to our tax dollars and their health to have
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something nearby” where they can buy cannabis instead. Coutu also added that “we see a lot of people driving specifically through Agassiz, all the way to Harrison, and I’m going to bet they’d stop if they knew a place was here.” Following the public hearing, council was set to make a decision on the zoning and business licence bylaws, which would allow one retail cannabis store in the district if it was located in the far east or far west portions of the townsite — so it was far enough away from the high school — and if it restricted its hours to between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. The business would also pay significant licensing fees. However, Coun. Duane Post requested that staff amend the bylaw so the retail store would only be allowed in the east end of the townsite. This required that council rescind second reading of the zoning bylaw. Both the zoning bylaw and the business licence bylaw will come back to council for final approval in the future.
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