EDITOR,
From the smell of things around downtown Squamish these days, it's high time to consider changing our beautiful little town's moniker from the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada to the Commercial Marijuana Growing Capital of Canada.
Spend any amount of time in the area of Stan Clarke Park, the library, the brew pub or the Vancouver Street estuary entrance and you're likely to be pummeled by the pungent aroma of pot venting endlessly from nondescript buildings that are given away as grow shows only by their newly and massively jacked-up power lines and vents, and all-day/all-night comings and goings.
Sure, to some, it's the sweet smell of money and medicinal relief, but to those who have made significant investments purchasing their homes and settling their families in the area, it reaks of property values going up in smoke, closed windows in the summer, and seems in contradiction to the "family friendly" nature of a neighbourhood that the District has invested so much time and energy into trying to transform.
Allowing large-scale commercial bud operators to set up shop in business parks away from homes is one thing, but granting these businesses license to run 24/7 within smelling distance of several high-density housing developments and the heart of the downtown core is (reefer) madness.
Does Squamish want to be known for its outdoor lifestyle and young family/community vibe, or for being a bad stink in the Sea to Sky Corridor?It's time to revisit the flimsy DOS zoning bylaws that govern these growers and consult the community before approving any further grow ops in town.
Deena Zenyk
Squamish
