Victoria Council's Committee of the Whole has voted to reject rezoning applications for four cannabis shops, and send a fifth to public hearings.
The rejected shops are in the 500- block Herald, 600-block Johnson, 1600-block Douglas, and at 2600-block Quadra. Committee members found the properties were not in keeping with the city's buffer zones aimed at preventing pot shops from operating within 400 metres of another shop, or within 200 metres of a school.
Final decisions will be made by all of council at their meeting tonight. But Mayor Lisa Helps is clear on what a business must do once their rezoning application fails:
" It means that council has not forwarded their applications to public hearing and that they will need to close down."
Helps says if a shop refuses to comply - as some have -- the city will take legal action.
"Then we'll need to go and say you've been turned down, it's time to close. And some will comply and some won't, and those that won't we do need to seek legal action against just as they have in Vancouver."
The property that has been recommended for public hearing stretches from the 2-thousand block Douglas to the 600-block Pembroke Street.