BY JENNIFER CHORNLEY Special to the VOICE
It will not be a seventh heaven for Fenwick residents as they raise concerns about a second marijuana processing facility on Foss Road, and what would be the seventh such operation in Pelham.
Some 100 Fenwick residents descended upon the new Wellington Heights Public School last Friday evening for an information session organized by resident David Ireland.
Ireland intended that Friday night’s community meeting spark interest to form a committee that would brainstorm ideas to limit overall cannabis cultivation in Pelham.
For the time being, Ireland established the group as the Pelham Community Preservation Coalition.
“We would like to present new bylaws, revisions to existing bylaws specifically regarding cannabis cultivation, for both medical and recreational use to council and push to get them passed,” he said.
Ireland said he’s not against the legalization of recreation marijuana. Instead, the issue is the size and proximity of pot grow-ups to residential neighbourhoods.
Since cannabis is deemed an agricultural crop, it can be grown and processed on property surrounding residential properties.
Among the attendees, the top concerns were odour, location, declining property values and the sustainability of the hamlet’s physical population in upcoming years.
Val and Rick McCombs moved to Fenwick in November 2016. Rick had a six-acre parcel of land in Wainfleet while Val had a townhouse in Beamsville.
“Rick doesn’t like the city, so we settled in Fenwick as it was still in good proximity to larger centres,” Val said. “We chose this property because it was serene.”
Rick said that he didn’t mind that the previous operation was a vegetable greenhouse. At the time they moved in he said, “Yeah, I can handle that.”
Now that the agricultural landscape has changed to marijuana production, he isn’t happy.
“The big thing for us is the decrease in property value.”
Val echoed his concerns by saying that a retiree’s main source of income is investments and what assistance the government provides, which, for the most part, is very little.
Rick is also dismayed with the Town’s development bylaws and drawn-out process for something such as splitting a parcel of land.
“For simple things, like adding a shed, signs have to go up, neighbours must be notified. But yet, when a large-scale facility such as this is Town-approved, there was nothing. No public input or signs notifying the residents.”
“The Town Council really dropped the ball on this one,” Rick said. “To have an ‘agricultural’ facility such as this so close to residential homes and schools is nonsense.”
Val expressed interest in being part of the committee and will use her talents to help where she can.
Another major concern was the smell. Due to the positioning of some production facilities and the fact that the wind blows from the southwest, the hamlet is “boxed in.”
Ireland expressed concern that if a facility’s ventilation system is not properly put in place, the odour it produces may limit everyday general and recreational activities.
District School Board of Niagara Candidate Nancy Beamer said the future of the Fenwick youth who want to remain in the community is at stake, especially if they have to attend a school within distance of the skunky aroma, adding that the odour does not make for a healthy educational environment. She said the problem has to be dealt with now.
It was noted that 23 percent of the residents living in this area were under the age of 19.
David Ireland asserts that there are no Town bylaws to control any aspect of production facilities such as this.
“Niagara-on-the-Lake and West Lincoln do because they had a foresight to realize,” he said. “We have researched what other local municipalities have done and bylaws could have been put in place prior to this happening that could have curtailed the influx.”
On the meeting’s turnout, Ireland said, “I think the turnout and comments were phenomenal. Obviously, people are concerned.”
Ireland distributed 400 flyers in the community and extended invitations to Pelham Town Council, Niagara-West MP Dean Allison, candidates in the upcoming municipal election.
Regional Councillor candidate Diana Huson, who lives in Fenwick, encouraged residents to keep putting pressure on the Town, its administration, and candidates.
When Huson questioned the crowd on whether they would like to see Pelham as a marijuana retail community, only one resident was in favour of the idea. With that response, she again encouraged residents to share their voice.
Earlier this year, Woodstock Biomed Inc. and its parent company Leviathan Canada, purchased greenhouse property at 770 Foss Road that once produced vegetables. The new 350,000-square foot facility will sit on 29.5 acres and produce the maximum Health Canada capacity of 20 million grams of marijuana yearly. To date, this is one of the largest initial single license capacities granted.
Leviathan Canada is retrofitting the site’s existing structures and it will be a two-stage process.
The first stage will have 164,000 sq. ft. developed and of that, 134,000 sq. ft. will be designated for cultivation and 30,000 sq. ft. for processing. Construction is expected to be completed by year’s end.
The second stage of development sees an expansion of the facility’s production capabilities to 1 million sq. ft.
Leviathan Canada CEO Martin Doane was invited by Ireland to attend the event, however he was unavailable. According to Ireland, Doane told him that he was willing attend another meeting with the community at the end of the month.
Ireland said, “This is going to be a long hard battle.”
Even though he will have a personal challenge due to issues around his hop gowing venture, “It’s not about me. It’s about the growth, health and safety of the community now and in the future.”
According to the Health Canada website, in Ontario there are 62 cultivation sites, with six, soon-to-be seven, in the Pelham area. Ontario is Canada’s cultivation leader, with British Columbia the next closest province at 25.
For more information and to be advised of upcoming meetings, email the Pelham Community Preservation Coalition at [email protected].
