Proposed first-of-its-kind weed-smoking patio gets rejected in Nelson, B.C.
Owner of Yaherb Culture Café in the West Kootenay is looking to appeal decision
A café owner in the B.C. southern Interior city of Nelson has been pushing for the city's first-ever weed-smoking patio. Earlier this week, the city council rejected Brenton Raby's application.
Yaherb Culture café was established in downtown Nelson just after marijuana was legalized in 2018, anticipating the day when consumption sites would be permitted.
Seven years later, smoking and vaping cannabis on public patios is permitted in B.C., in places where smoking and vaping tobacco is already allowed, subject to local and Indigenous bylaws.
"The plan was to open a cannabis culture café where people in the cannabis community could gather and express themselves," said Raby.
He obtained a business licence, a registered trademark, and a health permit for the renovated café.
In 2017, Nelson updated its Clean Air and Smoking Regulation Bylaw. The revised bylaw does not specifically refer to patios.
In an email to CBC News, Raby says that he felt the bylaw was ambiguous enough and decided to pursue the café.
Nelson city staff recommended the application be approved, but council not only rejected the weed smoking patio, but also voted against other forms of cannabis consumption in the café, such as edibles, vaping and marijuana soft drinks.
"Right from the start, I felt the application was doomed," said Raby.
Concerns from some of the café's neighbours likely factored into the decision, according to Raby, who says it felt like council members were influenced by more than the facts and data that were in the application.
"Some neighbours' concerns that came up during the process were blaming cannabis and the cannabis community for all sorts of problems,"
"Car break-ins, public urination and defecation, one letter saying that his marriage was under stress and he is getting divorced because of cannabis."
Despite concerns from some neighbours, Raby says that the café had support from others.
He also said that despite feedback from two city councillors who seemed supportive of the café, he doesn't believe the mayor is willing to reconsider because her "prejudice and anti-cannabis stance is too firm."
Nelson Mayor Janice Morrison said she and council's main concern was the smoke and odour of cannabis, adding that smoking tobacco is currently not permitted on patios in Nelson — an assertion Raby disputes.
He says the bylaw only applies to smoking within seven meters of a public open space and maintains there are smoking patios at two establishments in the city: one a local hotel, the other a bar.
Morrison says that had the application left out the smoking of cannabis, she and other council members may have voted differently to support the consumption of edibles, weed vaporizers and soft drinks inside the café.
With Cannabis Control Regulations changing last January to include public patio smoking, a further concern for Morrison and the council was being the first city in B.C. to approve a patio for pot smoking.
"No other community or group has stepped up to do a consumption site in the province. We would be the first, and that was a bit of a concern."
Morrison says that Raby paid $1,000 to bring his application to council, and in the event that he reapplied, the fee would be waived.
"We did due diligence. It was respectful and well thought out. We were prepared to be in the meeting, and it's our job to make decisions that contemplate the community as a whole," she said.
Raby says that he is asking a law firm based in Abbotsford, John Conroy and Associates, to review the decision to see if it can be appealed.
Raby was also the owner of Brandi's Place, a 24/7 coffee shop in Nelson that was open on a temporary lease until March 31, 2025. The coffee shop was known to support and offer winter respite to the local homeless population in Nelson.
He says that when Brandi's Place was open, it faced a lot of structural abuse from the city and neighbours in an attempt to shut it down. He says he thinks that the negative response to Brandi's Place may have been a factor in the Yaherb culture café decision.
In an interview with CBC's Daybreak South, Morrison said that Raby's involvement with Brandi's Place did not influence her or council's decision.
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With files from Daybreak South