A downtown cannabis shop’s bid to more than double its retail space has been denied by the City of Victoria, caught between provincial rules that require pot shops to be hidden behind frosted glass and heritage bylaws that oppose opaque windows.
The Original Farm, the first cannabis retailer to be granted a business licence under the city’s regulatory regime in 2017, asked to increase the floor space of its shop at 1402 Douglas St. from 200 square metres to 450 metres. The business is located in a heritage building at the corner of Douglas and Johnson streets and has been closed as it awaits provincial approval.
Last week, councillors turned down that request, saying they didn’t want to risk having more prime street frontage obscured by frosted windows.
“This is a prominent location, it's a pedestrian thoroughfare,” Mayor Lisa Helps said. “I don’t feel it’s appropriate to have the entire store frontage of a heritage building selling cannabis, particularly with frosted windows — which are the provincial regulations at this point.”
Provincial and federal regulations require cannabis retailers to frost windows and doors up to five feet so that it’s impossible to see product from the street.
The city’s design guidelines, which are not specific to cannabis shops, favour having transparent windows at street level to enhance the pedestrian experience, promote safety and foster a vibrant downtown.
The cannabis retailer will apply for a heritage alteration permit, requesting permission to erect window coverings.
If that permit is denied, approval for the expansion is unlikely to be given by the province, meaning the store might have to find another location. The Original Farm owners have invested heavily in the store, with custom black and gold tile work and design fixtures that make it look more like a trendy hotel lobby than a pot shop.
The city’s heritage advisory council will give input on whether to allow frosted windows, but the final decision rests with Victoria council, city spokesman Bill Eisenhauer said.
The city has yet to receive the heritage alteration permit, he said, “so it is premature to make any predictions as to potential outcome.”
Allan Lingwood, Original Farm’s chief compliance officer, said the City of Victoria has been supportive of the business so far, but the confusion over frosted glass has stymied efforts to expand.
“We had a lot of council support up until heritage was involved. So there’s a bit of a disconnect between heritage, the city, federal and provincial regulations,” he said.
“I think everyone is hoping that the province and the federal regulations will adjust over time to empower municipalities to make the decision themselves as to whether or not window coverings are enforced on cannabis retail stores.”
Lingwood said the city originally considered mandating frosted windows in its cannabis bylaws, but softened that position “because they would much prefer to be able to have clear sight lines into the store and to remove as much of the shadiness around the business as possible.”
Farm’s two locations, the Douglas location and its Hillside store, received “fit and proper” designation from the province on Friday, meaning it passed its initial security and financial screening.
Such a designation is required before the City of Victoria can begin the two-week public consultation process, in which written letters seeking feedback are sent to businesses and residents within a 100-metre radius of the cannabis shop.
The city has started collecting public input on three cannabis retailers: Two shops operated by Clarity Cannabis at 603 Gorge Rd. East and 851 Johnson St. and a shop at 778 Fort St. called Cloud Nine Collective. The provincial referrals for Farm’s two locations are being processed by the city and will go out for public comment in the near future, Eisenhauer said.
