Province Authorizes Retail Store The Hunny Pot Cannabis Co. to Operate in Burlington, AGCO Pre-Opening Inspection to Follow
The City of Burlington received notification today (Feb. 18) from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) that after considering comment submissions (including from the City), it has issued a retail store license to The Hunny Pot Cannabis Co., located at Upper Middle Road and Guelph Line. The store will need to go through its pre-opening inspection.The AGCO conducts a pre-opening inspection after authorizing stores to operate to ensure the operator is ready to open for business and sell cannabis products to the public in accordance with the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018, its regulations and the Registrar’s Standards for Cannabis Retail Stores.Click the link for the full notification from the AGCO: The Hunny Pot-Cannabis Submission Considered.The City of Burlington submitted comments to the AGCO stating that we did not support the location of this particular store because it doesn't conform to the set of municipal cannabis retail store guidelines and criteria for preferred locations and other considerations regarding cannabis stores we approved as a Burlington Council on May 27, 2019.It also doesn’t conform to the resolution that was brought forward by the subcommittee of the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) that I sit on with three other mayors – two from jurisdictions that do not allow cannabis stores, and two that do. That resolution recommended changes to provincial regulations to give municipalities greater control over locations and proliferation of stores and was approved by LUMCO and forwarded to the province.Retail cannabis stores in our city must be more than 150 metres from any school, as per Provincial mandate. In addition to that, the LUMCO resolution and the criteria/guidelines passed by Burlington Council both state that a store should strive to maintain a minimum 500 metres buffer distance from sensitive land uses, such as schools.The 1505 Guelph Line location of The Hunny Pot is approximately 270 m from M.M. Robinson High School.While we did submit comments to the Province that we didn't approve of this location, it's important to note that the City of Burlington doesn't have the authority to dictate where a store will ultimately be located — that decision rests with the AGCO.— Mayor Marianne Meed WardRELATED LINKS:
- Proposed Burlington Cannabis Store on Guelph Line Open for Comments Until Nov. 14
- Province Authorizes Retail Store Corner Cannabis to Operate in Burlington, AGCO Pre-Opening Inspection to Follow
--*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor's Media and Digital Communications Specialist