Changing financial times and a drop in the price of cannabis have allegedly caused a major development to cease operation.

The Nelson Cannabis Collective has reportedly halted the advancement of its multi-million dollar project to create a processing facility for cannabis in the Railtown area of Nelson.

A few months into construction, the 45 Government Road facility is far from complete but financing secured for the four-storey building is not enough.

There has been no confirmation if the project will continue or if the building will be completed for other purposes.

In December of 2019 the Nelson Cannabis Collective was approved for a zoning amendment to allow for cannabis operation at 45 Government Road after city council finally adopted an amendment to the Zoning Bylaw.

With the purchase of the industrial property, the purpose of the project was to build an indoor cannabis cultivation facility, licensed by Health Canada to supply the legal cannabis market.

The property was vacant and had previously been a fuel cardlock site.

Certificate of approval

The COC said the site was satisfactorily remediated to meet applicable Contaminated Sites Regulation remediation standards and Hazardous Waste Regulation standards, on the following conditions, (which are all met by the present application):

• New buildings on site must be slab-on-grade construction;

• No fruit or nut-bearing trees are to be established;

• Structures or facilities that would attract children (i.e. playgrounds) must not be constructed.

The operation

The Collective had a vision that was to see the site host several cultivators.

The proposal was for a scalable, indoor cannabis cultivation facility that would include multiple cultivators, each under a separate “micro-cultivation” licence from Health Canada to cultivate cannabis for the newly legalized recreational cannabis market.

According to the application, “a single micro-cultivation licence permits 200 square metres (around 2,152 square feet).”

One of the major stipulations of the development was that there would have been no retail sales or consumption on-site. Health Canada does not allow cultivation licensee holders to combine operations.