THURSDAYOCTOBER 16, 2014
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Pot fight continues ‘It doesn’t belong in some of our pristine agricultural land’ CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
Growing medical pot should be deemed an industrial activity — not an agricultural one. That’s the message regional district directors are sending to the Ministry of Agriculture, after a special electoral area planning committee meeting Tuesday afternoon. The board, not including City of Nanaimo directors, came together yesterday to respond to the ministry’s draft criteria for developing local government bylaws regarding medical marijuana production in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). “It (marijuana) is not a normal agricultural product,” said chair Joe Stanhope, who has supported River’s Edge residents in their fight against a medical marijuana facility setting up shop in a Nanoose Bay suburb south of Parksville. “It doesn’t belong in some of our pristine agricultural land.” Stanhope said the ministry is “ignoring completely the social, safety and security problems we could have if these things (medical marijuana facilities) are established in rural areas … we’re a long way from the police department and fire department and security would be a never-ending problem.” Director Julian Fell said medical marijuana facilities have a “decidedly non-farm character.” Fell, who represents Coombs/Errington, said the Ministry’s report was insufficient and lacked some of the major concerns brought forward by residents. “We need the ability to address siting issues of the visual and social nature such as site buffers, shielding, proximity to schools, fire and police, exits and road use, impacts on infrastructure,” he said. See LIMITED AUTHORITY, page A6
PETER MCCULLY PHOTO
The burn piles near Church Road on Island Valley Farms land were still smoldering on Tuesday after filling the area with smoke and ash over the long weekend.
Smoke chokes residents JOHN HARDING
editor@pqbnews.com
Island Valley Farms has permission and permits to burn the slash that filled parts of this region with smoke over the long weekend. That seems to be little consolation to residents of the Morningstar and French Creek areas who are talking about respiratory problems and finding ash all over their cars and patio furniture. “My house was full of smoke,” said French Creek resident Tom Reddick, one of many residents who called or e-mailed The NEWS over the weekend about the slash pile burning on
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land near Church Road. “I had headaches, difficulty breathing — it was very thick. I’ve never experienced anything like it. They shouldn’t be issuing permits like that — there are other ways to get rid of that slash.” Island Valley Farms owns the land that’s being cleared for cattle and crops, about 550 acres that’s within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). That means the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) has little or no say about what happens on the land. “We have all our permits,” Island Valley Farms chief operating officer Marc Fortin told The NEWS. “I can understand (the concerns of nearby resi-
dents) but unfortunately that (burning) is the only economical way to get rid of those piles. What can we do? We have a right to clear our land. Parksville was all bush at one time too.” Fortin said the burning, for this year anyway, is complete. Colleen Friesen lives in the Morningstar area. She said one of her neighbours just came home from open-heart surgery to a thick layer of smoke on the weekend. “It catches in your throat and makes you feel terrible,” said Friesen. “They (Island Valley Farms) do it on a long weekend when (residents) can’t get hold of anyone.” See RDN CALLS FOR BAN, page A7
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