Amherstburg is making sure it has all its ducks in a row when it comes to retail cannabis.
While no retail licenses have been issued in the town just yet, council has passed a nuisance bylaw mainly dealing with loitering and odours as there's currently no bylaw on the books regulating pot shops.
Mayor Aldo DiCarlo says the town is being proactive so it's not left scrambling if a store were to open in the future.
Amherstburg wasn't eligible for any cannabis licenses in April as they were only given to municipalities with a population over 50,000, but earlier this month the Ontario government announced it would be issuing another 50 licenses to any community that's opted in.
DiCarlo says getting some rules in place at the municipal level is a must.
"We have this weird situation where you've got the federal government basically saying it's completely legal, do what you want to do and then we've got a provincial government who has limited licenses and created all kinds of other problems. So it's been a challenge."
He says a shop in town could draw big crowds as the closest, at this point, is in London.
"I don't think there's any doubt that we would get some business, especially because some of our local municipalities in the region have said no. So I wouldn't be surprised if we had a decent turn out, especially in a small town, a nice place to visit."
Amherstburg council meeting on July 29, 2019 (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
DiCarlo says they're not looking to single out cannabis retailers.
"It's a business like any other business. There's some new buildings going up in town, there's a lot of speculation on what's going in them, but in reality, they are what they are. At the end of the day, if they provide viable business for the Town of Amherstburg, fantastic."
Town officials say Amherstburg has received two retail cannabis license applications thus far — one from Saskatchewan, the other from Sault Ste. Marie.
The province's second retail cannabis license lottery takes place August 20.
Locally, Windsor, Amherstburg, Essex, Kingsville, Leamington and Pelee Island voted in favour of allowing retail cannabis stores while LaSalle, Lakeshore and Tecumseh opted out.