Proposed pot farm stirs fears in quiet rural neighbourhood

Residents who endured a foul-smelling composting operation in a rural valley near Victoria fear more disruption from a giant pot farm proposed for the same site.

Shawn Galbraith, the founder and CEO of Evergreen Medicinal Supply, wants to build what he says will be one of the largest marijuana-growing facilities in Canada. He made an offer to purchase the 40-hectare parcel in Central Saanich, which has been accepted.

Galbraith heard the neighbours' concerns about odour, noise, lighting and traffic at a community meeting this week.

"It's unfortunate that the previous owners of the property were involved in a business that caused so much consternation to the neighbours," Galbraith told On the Island host Gregor Craigie.

"I think that in some ways it's affected the relationship we have with these folks at this point."

Composting operations on the property ended in 2014 after ongoing odour complaints prompted the Capital Regional District to stop sending food scraps there.

Galbraith insists that noise, light and smell issues have been carefully considered in the building plan.

As for concerns about traffic congestion on the quiet country road, he said shuttle buses will bring employees to and from the facility and nearby Keating industrial district three times a day.

He said the facility will employ 1,500 people to manage the output of 21 greenhouses when it is fully built-out in five to seven years.

Franz Winkel, who has farmed an adjoining property for the past half century, isn't convinced by the promises. 

"They will say there is no smell," Winkel said. "Maybe not the second year but [when] the electricity goes out, the pumps don't work; then we get smell."

Winkel said his main objection is that he thinks cannabis should be grown on industrial land, not prime farmland. 

"I'm not against the growing of marijuana," he said. "I'm against (that) they're going to put over this beautiful soil a greenhouse."

Winkel said once the land is covered in greenhouses, the possibility for his grandchildren and future generations to work the land will be lost. 

In March 2017, Evergreen Medicinal Supply Inc. received its licence from Health Canada to cultivate medical cannabis, four years after its initial application. 

The company's current facility is a bunker-like concrete building on just over a hectare of land in the same area as the larger proposed facility. 

Now, Galbraith said, the only hurdles to starting construction early in 2018 are municipal approval of a permit to move soil to or from the site, and a building permit.