There is an oceanic gulf between what cannabis retailers must pay to the City of Kamloops for a business licence ($5,000 annually) compared to what liquor operators must pony up ($196 annually)

A May 3 public hearing on a bid to move a liquor store 400 metres down the road in North Kamloops might prove to be contentious, as some neighbours fight the proposal.

Beyond the application to move the liquor store, however, is the fact the hearing has reminded us that Kamloops council and staff can make decisions that prompt many heads to be scratched in bewilderment.

Copper Tree Holdings has applied to rezone property at 780 Windsor Ave. The location is the Cooper Centre development that has replaced the Dirty Jersey pub, SoccerQuest and Bowlertime, a trio of businesses that used to operate in the building that sits at the corner of Eighth Street and York Avenue, alongside a new Tim Hortons outlet in the parking lot.

Once the rezoning sign went up, some neighbours contacted KTW to raise various concerns about a liquor store opening right across the street from Bert Edwards elementary. Concerns include access of alcohol to young people, neighbourhood traffic, transients and garbage.

Neighbours told KTW traffic in the area has increased significantly since Tim Hortons opened next to the school.

They also noted the transient population has risen in the area since the coffee and donut shop opened (and the Tim Hortons location two kilometres away, at 481 Tranquille Rd., closed). There was also consternation brought forward regarding the proposed liquor store and the nearby Moira House shelter for the homeless, which opened on April 15.

While the proposed liquor store site was for years home to a pub within spitting distance of the school, the concerns of neighbours revolve around liquor sales and more traffic coming and going.

Amid all of this are city-mandated rules regarding mind-altering substances that, for some reason, are not uniform. In other words, alcohol and cannabis bring far different legislative responses from city hall.

As we noted in stories on the liquor store bid and some neighbourhood opposition, there are no local bylaws or provincial laws mandating liquor outlets be a specified distance from schools. With cannabis stores, however, a Kamloops bylaw stipulates they be at least 150 metres from a school.

Why liquor stores can be right next to a school, but cannabis stores cannot, is a mystery, especially since alcohol remains the king of health and social problems in society.

Amplifying the confusion is the fact we can have a liquor store next to a school, yet one cannot walk past that school while sipping a beer. Yet a cannabis store cannot be opened next a school, but one is allowed to walk past that school while smoking a joint. (That bizarre scenario is brought to you courtesy provincial legislation.)

In Kamloops, cannabis stores must be at least 100 metres from another cannabis store, while liquor outlets must be at least one kilometre from one another, unless already operating prior to the adoption of the bylaw, which explains some clusters in the city.

Why we can have cannabis stores every 100 metres in approved areas, yet there must be at least 1,000 metres between liquor stores, is not clear. The confusion is amplified when one notes the disparate rules regarding schools and these operations of legal intoxicants.

The biggest oddity, though, can be found in the oceanic gulf between what cannabis retailers must pay to the City of Kamloops for a business licence, compared to what liquor operators must pony up.

The differences are mind-boggling and, as far as I can tell, do not make sense.

If you own a store in Kamloops that sells cannabis, you must pay city hall $5,000 per year to operate. If you own a store in Kamloops that sells liquor, you must pay city hall $196.40 per year to operate. Business licence fees for nightclubs and neighbourhood pubs ($617.20) and theatres selling booze ($146) are also much, much less than what cannabis retailers must pay.

Perhaps that vast monetary discrepancy explains why the mandated distance between $5,000-a-year cannabis stores is so much shorter than that of $196.40-per-year liquor stores.

By my count, there are 18 liquor stores and 20 cannabis stores in Kamloops. Based on those numbers, the city takes in $3,535.20 annually in business licence revenue from 18 liquor stores, while taking in $100,000 per year from 20 cannabis stores.

Why the massive discrepancy?

Liquor-related problems cost us collectively — in policing, court, health-care and myriad other expenses — far more than issues that are cannabis-related, so why are cannabis retailers required to pay 25 times more for a business licence in the city?

Perhaps it is time the operators of these new ventures ask city hall that question. However, government being government, would you wager on the cannabis cost coming down or on liquor licensing lucre lifting?