Pelham Town Council returned Wednesday to its first full in-person meeting inside Town Hall chambers since March 2020 with a packed public gallery regarding concerns over cannabis producer Redecan.
Council ultimately voted to establish a new working group tentatively called the Redecan Community Liaison Committee, and authorized a $25,000 expenditure to hire an independent “odour professional” to monitor the facility more closely.
However, this was not before the chair of the former Cannabis Control Committee (CCC), Tim Nohara, made a detailed presentation to council and effectively took issue with how Town staff have handled odour complaints emanating from Redecan’s Foss Road facility over the last few years.
“I wish to clear up a misunderstanding propagated by staff who seem to believe that using a Nasal Ranger and measuring six odour units at the Redecan property line is the basis for substantiating a complaint. This is not the case,” Nohara said.
The “Nasal Ranger” is an electronic device used to measure the potency of a specific odour in the air, as reported by the Voice in 2020.
Nohara cited a quote from engineer Phil Girard – the odour professional consulted by the former CCC – who basically implied that bylaw enforcement staff cannot be expected to do this particular job properly.
“If you send out an employee who doesn’t want to be there, they may easily dismiss the odour, the impact, and the problem,” ran a text from Girard included in Nohara’s presentation. “It’s one thing to be exposed for a few minutes. It’s different to have to live with a smell that invades and permeates your property and house and belongings.”
Nohara also said it was crucial that the new committee receive odour emission studies from Redecan, something to date they have refused to provide.
“It’s not a job for a non-professional, it’s not a job for bylaw (enforcement),” Nohara said.
Furthermore, Nohara recommended that the Town advise their external counsel to report Redecan’s alleged non-compliance to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Council met in closed session during the meeting, presumably to discuss that possibility. When they returned, CAO David Cribbs had been “authorized to take measures from the closed meeting.”
While council passed the measures including forming a working group, Ward 3 Councillor Bob Hildebrandt balked at that proposed structure, saying that “working groups have no teeth.”
He was the only no-vote on the matter.
Staff have also been instructed to reach out to Redecan’s new management and bring back a report to council. Redecan is the only industrial cannabis producer left in Pelham following the closure of the former CannTrust/Phoena facility.
