The City of Langford and the operators of the Green Tree Medical Dispensary have settled their differences outside of a court room.
Last month the City filed an injunction against the business for operating in contradiction to municipal bylaws.
“Since that time the folks at Green Tree have obtained the advice of legal council,” said Lorne Fletcher, the city’s senior bylaw enforcement officer. “I would be surprised if they would reopen their doors at this point.”
Instead of contesting the injunction in court, Green Tree has agreed to a consent order, “which will effectively permanently close Green Tree from opening in Langford,” Fletcher said.
While the consent order hasn’t officially been filed – that will likely happen during the first week of April – it’s not likely the shop will open its doors again before that time. “Our biggest goal was to have the land-use bylaw acknowledged,” Fletcher said.
Those regulations prohibit the sale of marijuana from a municipal standpoint, but not a criminal one, which is essentially what the consent order accomplishes.
Attempts to reach Green Tree for comment were unsuccessful by the Gazette’s deadline. The order also requires that Green Tree settle all outstanding fines with the City.
Every day the shop was open at the Granderson Road location, Langford bylaw officers ticketed the dispensary for operating without a business licence and for a lack of permits relating to signage.
Collectively, the shop was only open for about a week and accumulated roughly $1,200 in fines. Three of those days were also interrupted by the West Shore RCMP, whose officers were conducting separate criminal investigations into the operation.
In response to the injunction, Fletcher noted, the City has received a significant response from the community in support of council’s actions.
katie@goldstreamgazette.com