COVID-19 restrictions will be in effect during two public hearings in the South Shuswap hosted by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District.
The hearings are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, at the Sorrento Memorial Hall. On the agenda for the evening are proposed zoning and official community plan amendments to accommodate a cannabis micro cultivation facility at 1802 Trans-Canada Highway in Sorrento. The second hearing involves proposed zoning and OCP amendments to allow a five-lot bare strata subdivsion on adjacent properties at 2288 and 2304 Blind Bay Road.
Regarding the property at 1802, the applicant is seeking to change their current federal licence for a medical cannabis cultivation facility to a licence for cannabis micro cultivation. They have applied to the CSRD redesignate a portion of the property, which contains an approximately 2,500 square-foot building and a small parking area, from RR2 Rural Residential to ID Industrial, and rezone a portion from RR4 Rural Residential to CP Cannabis Production.
According to the Government of Canada, a licence for cannabis micro cultivation limits the usable plant surface area to 200 metres square, for the production of up to 600 kilograms per year. A CSRD staff notes cannabis production facilities do no include retail cannabis sales.
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The second hearing involves an application to redesignate the northern portion of the properties at 2288 and 2304 from RR1 Rural Residential to R1 Low Density Residential for the strata subdivision, and the southern and easterly portions from RR Rural Residential to NR Neighbourhood Residential, and from RR1 and R1 to PK Public and Institutional, for the creation of a lot to be used as a park. With the subdivision, CSRD staff are recommending a covenant be registered requiring all lots to have a 30-metre minimum water frontage width on Shuswap Lake, and no cottages permitted on lots 2 to 5.
For the hearing, signage will be at the entrance explaining COVID-19 protocols. Names and contact information of attendees will be collected, all attendees will be asked to use hand sanitizer prior to entry and anyone exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 will be asked to leave. Seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.