Within four weeks, a report will come back from Red Deer’s city administration after council couldn't agree on how far cannabis retailers should be from each other, or from other land uses where their proximity could create problems.

“Various council members had different ideas of what the separation distance should be between cannabis retail stores and other retail stores. Between cannabis retail stores and liquor outlets, for example. Between cannabis and daycare,” said Coun. Vesna Higham.

The direction came Monday night, after a public hearing on two bylaws that would regulate legalized cannabis stores in the city.

Council passed the first, which defined cannabis retail sales as a land use, but was stuck on the second, which dictates where they would be located.

As currently proposed, that bylaw, known as “Bylaw B,” would add cannabis retail sales as a discretionary use to C1 Commercial (City Centre) and C4 Commercial (Major Arterial) districts. Setbacks from sensitive land uses such as schools and daycares would be 300 m. That would also be the minimum distance between cannabis retailers.

Those distances are intended to prevent clustering of stores and to limit the access of children to them.

If council makes any substantive changes to the second bylaw, that would trigger another public hearing.

Higham’s proposal to keep cannabis sales 100 m from liquor stores and drinking establishments would be considered such a change.

So would other proposed amendments, including reductions to setbacks from schools and other cannabis retailers.

The public hearing saw eight speakers, many from the business community asking for a regulatory regime that would allow for more retail locations in the city.

One of them, Ryan Sawatzky, a developer of the Timberlands Market, said limiting retailers to C1 and C4 districts would give those lands a competitive advantage over his, adding that other commercial districts deserve the same treatment.

Higham is among those on council who prefers more stringent regulations, at least to start.

“When you attach a land use to a certain area, it becomes an ingrained right and it’s very difficult to remove that so I would prefer to be very cautious and start by restricting it more,” she said.

“We can always (reduce) those distance separations. We could allow for more retail cannabis stores to pop up. But we can’t go the other way.”

According to results from an online city survey conducted during a six-week public consultation period, 65 per cent of 1,474 respondents preferred strip malls and arterial roadways as the best locations for pot stores.

On separations, 89 per cent agreed that stores should be at least 100 m from schools or health facilities. Of those respondents, a quarter were satisfied with the 100 m, while 38 per cent were in favour of 300 m.

For distance between stores, 25 per cent said 300 m would be adequate while 39 per cent felt no minimum was needed.