City of Kelowna still waiting on first cannabis store application

Kelowna city planners were expecting upwards of a hundred applications for retail cannabis licenses, but a month into accepting applications there has yet to be single one submitted.

That’s not to say there isn’t interest, city officials have conducted more than 30 meetings with potential applicants, however, not one has actually been submitted.

"Potential applicants are requesting meetings to make sure their applications meet our requirements should they decide to move ahead with the process," explained Kelowna city planner Ryan Smith.

"A lot of the applicants are waiting until the last minute because once they apply, their application will go on our registry system which will make the potential store's address public. Most people have some concerns about putting that information out there too early."

According to Smith, the city is undecided if there will be a second registry period, meaning applications must be submitted before Nov. 30 to be considered for the initial wave of cannabis stores in Kelowna.

"There's a lot of people trying to do the best due diligence they can to make sure they submit the strongest application possible," said Smith.

"We will evaluate the applications in the third week of January. There may need to be lotteries at the end of that week, depending on how applications rank and whether they are in the same area."

Kelowna planning staff will use a scoring matrix to rank retail cannabis applications, which will move forward to council for approval based on highest to lowest score.

If application scores are close to each other, a lottery will determine which goes first.

"There will likely be three or four public council meetings in a row with six to eight cannabis applications on them," affirmed Smith.

"If the rezonings get approved by council, applications will be sent to BC government where a final decision to approve the license will be made."

Potential retailers will be charged $1,000 just to apply, and about $9,500 more if the application is deemed sufficient to proceed.