Jasper councillors had many and varied questions for CAO Mark Fercho and the rest of the town’s Cannabis Working Group after seeing a draft survey for the public on May 1.

The working group is comprised of members of the town’s administration, the RCMP and Parks Canada. There are no members representing the public or the business community. Fercho said there is intent to expand the group in the future to include for example a rep from the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce.

They’re expected to attend a committee of the whole meeting on May 8. Mayor Richard Ireland and other members of council are ready to quiz them on the draft survey, which was included in the May 1 council agenda and is available on the town’s website.

Councillor Jenna McGrath, for example, asked in a measured tone why the group apparently thinks cannabis retail businesses would not qualify as what Parks Canada defines as Resident Oriented Services, and therefore would be limited to street-level commercially zoned spaces.

She gleaned the leaning from the wording of one of the questions, which Fercho said several times was a first draft that resulted from “20 minutes” of him hammering on the keyboard to get something in front of council for the sake of discussion.

She also asked for some detail on what shape an open house for the public on retail weed could take, either in place of conducting a survey or in addition to one.

Coun. Rico Damota asked a set-up question of Fercho about whether there was any push internally from the RCMP or Parks in terms of whether the stores are located below, at or above grade.

“I wanted to remove some stigmas that might be out there because of who’s in the working group now, to know that there was no malice,” Damota said. “It was pieced together for us to spitball before a future meeting.”

Fercho said it was in fact “quite the opposite” and that the possibility of locating the stores at all levels was discussed. The survey asks in two questions whether a resident would approve of a weed shop upstairs or downstairs.

Damota also asked by the group was recommending that weed retail be permitted in all C1 zoned lots but only C1 lots, which excludes as an example C5 zones, or gas stations, which brings Avalanche Spirits to mind.

Fercho said that’s a question the group hadn’t considered.

Mayor Ireland sought more clarity on why the survey would be used at all.

“I don’t want to ask a question of residents that creates an expectation that then could be foiled by provincial legislation,” Ireland said. “The province is to set all of the policies and I’m not sure when that is going to occur. Both you and Ms. Nadon have talked about the possibility of legislation, but i struggle to figure out what legislation that will be. The province says their rules apply unless there’s a land use bylaw that overrules it, but we don’t have one and we’re not going to get it.”

That said, there are some Jasper-specific things to consider. Fercho noted that the province’s 100-metre buffer for schools and hospitals arbitrarily eliminated some Patricia Street businesses (roughly around the Earl’s corner) because it reaches the lots in the back.

“It doesn’t make sense in Jasper, it doesn’t make sense in a small town,” Fercho said.

Pending changes, Coun. Bert Journault said he thought a survey is a good idea. “I see it as data  … for future use,” Journault said. “I don’t see why asking should limit or bind us in any way. It’s information. A survey is quite often the only method you have for getting info from the public so you should do it.”