Hello Ward 8 Neighbours,
The Public Notice period has started for a cannabis retailer looking to open a retail storefront at 584 Upper James St (also known as 6 Brucedale Ave. West).
For more details, please continue reading below…
The City provided an update to the Ward 8 office, indicating that a Notice of Application for a Cannabis Retail Store Authorization was received for 12320860 CANADA INC. O/A JACKPOT (SAKHI NAIMPOOR), which would utilize 584 Upper James Street (or 6 Brucedale Ave. W.) as its retail location.
With this news, residents in Ward 8 can have their say on this proposed location between now and February 2, 2021.
The Provincial Alchol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has responsibility for regulating Ontario’s cannabis retail stores under the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018 and Regulation 468/18.
Private businesses are required to submit an application for license to AGCO. The AGCO decides approval or denial of each application.
The AGCO has a mandated 15 day period in which to receive ‘Public Comments’ for each application. The Municipality’s role is to assist with this Public Comment Period. The period for this location began January 22, 2021.
The City of Hamilton has seven location criteria it hopes the AGCO will take into consideration , including if the location is within 300m of schools, parks, child/daycare centres, library, community centres, addiction/mental health centre, or other cannabis stores. However, these requirements may be ignored by the AGCO.
From now until February 2, residents can file a written response to the proposed 592 Upper James location by following this link.
After the 15 day period, any written submissions will be copied and delivered to the applicant who then has a 5 day window to respond to the written submissions. Within 15 days of that, the Registrar will make an authorization decision.
As cannabis retail locations are a provincial matter, it will be the Province which has the final say over authorization of any cannabis retailers in the City of Hamilton.
However, when the City of Hamilton authorized cannabis retail within the City, Council set several priorities for cannabis retail locations.
The proposed 584 Upper James St.(6 Brucedale Ave. W.) location passes the AGCO Regulations of being at least 150m away from schools, but does not meet the criteria set out by Council with it being within 20m of another cannabis retailer and 228m from Melville Park.
If you want more information about proposed cannabis locations in Hamilton, click here.
To submit a written submission about this proposed location, please click here.
Questions or concerns?
If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact our office here.