Windsor city council to begin considering legal cannabis store location

Windsor city council will begin helping the provincial government decide where an LCBO-run cannabis shop will be set up in 2018, during their final meeting of the year Monday evening.

• Windsor one of first municipalities to get a legal pot store: LCBO

• ​​Province's pot plan doesn't take 'toking tourists' into consideration, say critics

With recreational marijuana use  set to be legalized across Canada by July 1, 2018, Ontario plans to open 80 shops by July of the following year, increasing that to about 150 locations by 2020.

Province wants a map of the city

The government has not hinted where it might place the store in Windsor, but given the short time frame it is working with, the province has indicated it will hire a planner and real estate agent to select an existing storefront which is already zoned for retail.

City officials will have some input on the store and have agreed to provide the government with a map detailing the following:

• Lands currently zoned to allow a 2500-square-foot retail store
• Transit Windsor bus routes
• All elementary and secondary school locations
• All city parks
• Addiction treatment, mental health facilities and emergency housing/shelter locations

Residents are invited to provide feedback online once a site for the shop is identified and a public notice will be posted online and at the store's physical location if possible.

The province also stated none of the locations will be near schools.

Windsor's first pot store will be busy

Natural Alternatives for Health is a marijuana dispensary in Colorado that's been selling recreational marijuana for two years since pot became legal in the state.

"Medically, on a busy day, we see 40-50 people. Recreationally, we see about a thousand," said Alyssa Magee, the medical manager for the Fort Collins store.

Magee says even though the store has plenty of parking, the lot is constantly full and they are only one out of a dozen stores in the Fort Collins area that offers pot recreationally.

Magee estimates that Windsor's store, once it opens, will be similarly inundated.

"That place is going to be overloaded and they are going to run out of weed super quick, and parking is going to be insane and people waiting in a line… so it will be interesting," she told CBC News over the phone.

Councillor says pot has positive potential

Councillor Rino Bortolin  said he expects it will be a very busy operation, so things such as parking, traffic and accessibility will have to be considered.

"We need to look at it holistically, not just scared of where it could go for all the negative impacts, but also for the potential positive impacts," he explained. "We're embracing this, and we're making it legal across the country. We have to start realizing that smoking weed and buying pot shouldn't be stigmatized as this illegal rampant issue that's going to cause a lot of crime and things like that."

The councillor added it's "semi-absurd" Windsor-Essex will have just one cannabis store.

Other councillors are expressing some concern about the provincial government choosing the store's location.

Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac said more communication is needed between the municipality and the province when it comes to picking a location.

"Municipalities that are going to host these for the first time have really not had any input. Sitting on the police board I have a concern from that perspective," said Gignac.

She's hoping that once the government picks a location for the store, the city can approve it or provide feedback.