Vernon puts 500-metre buffer between pot shops in oversaturated market
More than two years after the suggestion was originally brought to the table, Vernon city council has passed a motion to require cannabis stores to be at least 500 metres from each other.
Vernon council had several options on the table, one being to introduce the 500-metre buffer between stores but not with the city's two Business Improvement Areas, which consist of the downtown core, and an area just outside the downtown.
"I don't want a patchwork of different bylaws," councillor Kari Gares told council's Feb. 28 meeting. "I would like the 500 metres regulation to be applied throughout the entire city."
Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming spoke against Coun. Gares proposal.
"I think we need more commercial stuff in the commercial core," Mayor Cumming said.
The mayor said he thought the cap of six stores within the downtown – that council introduced in 2019 – had worked well, and the 500-metre buffer didn't need to apply downtown. The mayor favoured the 500-metre buffer for the rest of the city.
Coun. Gares said she thought the 500-metre buffer would be favoured by cannabis businesses as there was already an over saturation of pot shops in the city.
The councillor said one cannabis store owner had said they welcomed the move.
By mid-2020, Vernon boasted more cannabis stores than any other mid-sized city in B.C.
According to the province, it has issued 16 licences for cannabis stores in Vernon, although two of those stores have already closed.
It's unclear whether Vernon is still the pot shop capital of B.C.
Vernon cannabis stores are also in competition with around a dozen unlicensed cannabis stores operating on Okanagan Indian Band land near the city.
Why Vernon council has moved to put in place a 500-metre buffer between stores wasn't discussed during the council meeting. Coun. Gares did try to put forward the motion in 2019 but it received no traction.
In the same year, the City put a moratorium on the number of stores that could open in the downtown core and then expanded the moratorium to the entire city. It then overrode the moratorium on several occasions after prospective cannabis business owners complained they'd been waiting for their applications to be approved when the rule had come into force.
Whether the new 500-metre buffer rule will have any effect on Vernon's oversaturated cannabis market remains to be seen. One pot shop owner previously said some businesses were just waiting for their five-year leases to expire before they closed down.
READ MORE: Stores beginning to close in Okanagan's oversaturated cannabis market
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