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May 11, 2010
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Wal-Mart unlikely for Pitt Meadows
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ENVIRONMENT CROWD GOES WILD
Retail giant is named as a tenant in Port Coquitlam. MARIA RANTANEN mrantanen@mrtimes.com
Wal-Mart has been named as a tenant for a development in Port Coquitlam just west of the Pitt River Bridge. Port Coquitlam city staff confirmed that a development application for land just west of the Pitt River Bridge has named Wal-Mart as a tenant for their building. Albion, Pitt Meadows and Port Coquitlam have all been speculated as possible sites for a Wal-Mart during the past few years. One property was the land just north of the Lougheed Highway at Harr is Road, which is designated highway commercial in the Official Community Plan of Pitt Meadows. “The land is there...and it will be commercial,” said Pitt Meadows Mayor Don MacLean. He added that the property could have a number of other large anchor tenants that provide local shopping for the residents of Pitt Meadows.
Laura Lee Richard, director of development services with the City of Port Coquitlam, said that Port Coquitlam council adopted a bylaw for the property that allows a large-format retail building to be built. The application for a development permit received by the City of Port Coquitlam states that the tenant coming onto the site is Wal-Mart. Large-format retail land-use properties usually attract businesses like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco or Canadian Tire, Richard said. While the development application states the tenant is Wal-Mart, in the end, the decision whom to rent to is made by the property owner, Richard said. Project coordinator Pierre Laross with Onni said the company is expecting the development to be finished in about a year. Onni is developing about 300,000 square feet of retail space and two towers in their development, which is called Fremont Village.
Mitch Thompson/TIMES
Michael Slather (Right), MLA for the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows riding, walks along the dike with members of the community and the Alouette River Management Society on Saturday. The walk was in support of Get Out Migration, a global initiative to raise awareness about the impact of salmon farming.
Cops want fed approval before busting medicinal pot shop AMY STEELE asteele@mrtimes.com
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olice won’t move in and charge anyone involved with the new medicinal marijuana dispensary operating in Maple Ridge unless they get approval from the federal Department of Justice to do so. That’s what Ridge Meadows RCMP Supt. Dave Walsh told Maple Ridge council at a meeting on Monday. “If we were going to consider any enforcement action in regards to this it would be at the direction of both Health Canada as well as the Department of Justice so I guess from our perspective we’re still in the information gathering and consultative stage,” he said. “The decision would be the Department of Justice’s as to whether, given these set of circumstances, they would be willing to prosecute.”
Inspector Derren Lench told council there are three medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Vancouver, two in Victoria and one in Kelowna. Health Canada grants permission for people with certain medical conditions to use medicinal marijuana and gives some people who use it medicinally the right to grow it or to designate someone to grow it for them. People can also buy marijuana from a federal government supplier. However, Lench and Walsh pointed out dispensaries aren’t legally allowed to do so. “They have modelled it after Vancouver and Victoria (dispensaries) so that’s another piece we’re looking at, too. Are they turning a blind eye there?” said Lench. However, he said even if those municipalities are “turning a blind eye” that doesn’t necessarily mean local RCMP would do so. Walsh said police also have to
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determine if the dispensary, operated by the non-profit Always Growing Green Society (TAGGS), is doing what they claim to be doing. Society members told The TIMES only people with federal permission to use medicinal marijuana or people with doctor’s letters could buy pot there. “Are they what they say they are? Are they selling to kids or selling to people who don’t have medicinal licences?” said Walsh. Meanwhile, Maple Ridge council members expressed frustration with the federal government for creating the situation leading to non-profit medicinal marijuana dispensaries opening up. Councillor Al Hogarth said “the Department of Justice and our friends of Ottawa have created a huge black hole in legislation that I think they should be made aware of.” Hogarth said he agrees there is
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“legitimate use” of medicinal marijuana but “we obviously have a problem with the way Ottawa has brought about this piece of legislation.” Hogarth wants Health Canada to take some responsibility, including paying the district compensation for any legal costs it has to incur dealing with the dispensary. “I would suggest you go as far as to say we want compensation for what you have put us into,” he said. “I don’t have a problem being compassionate, being whatever you want, but it gets to the point of being ridiculous. Maybe we should just legalize the stuff and get on with it.” Coun. Judy Dueck said council isn’t “just sitting here just accepting that” but is making sure to follow a proper legal route in dealing with it. “If it’s not legal what are they doing here?” she said. Coun. Craig Speirs argued the cur-
rent regulatory regime creates problems for legal medicinal marijuana users to access it. “This is a difficult thing especially for those who use medicinal marijuana for health issues. You get a licence to possess and own and grow but you can’t get a licence to sell that it to people with licences so that makes it very difficult for those who don’t have a green thumb,” he said. Speirs said the federal government should allow people to grow for more than two medicinal marijuana licence holders to create “economy of scale”, which would make it more affordable for users who are sick and often don’t have a lot of money. He said he’d also like to see medicinal marijuana grown in industrial or agricultural areas and not in residential areas.
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