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City of Powell River agrees to property purchasing agreement with Santé Veritas Therapeutics

Cannabis plant receives approval for expansion
Santé Veritas Therapeutics
LINES DRAWN: The property included in a purchasing agreement amendment with City of Powell River will allow Santé Veritas Therapeutics’ expansion of its facility in Townsite. Contributed photo

Santé Veritas Therapeutics is growing in size but the company has not started to grow cannabis.

A new amendment to its property purchasing agreement with City of Powell River allows Santé Veritas to expand its medical marijuana production facility in the Townsite area and open the way for phases two and three of its planned operation.

Phase two is a 50,000 square foot building behind phase one of the project, which is currently under construction across from Dwight Hall on Yew Street.

One of the main reasons city council is accepting the change is because it realizes how important Santé Veritas will be to jobs, investment and new tax revenue, according to mayor Dave Formosa.

“The planned expansion will provide for a number of good jobs and will add to the prosperity of the community,” said Formosa.

Approximately 50 people are currently employed in phase one of the former Catalyst Paper Corporation mill administration office conversion. The company is spending approximately $7 million dollars on the project.

The amendment will benefit Powell River with an additional 80 to 100-plus more jobs, and several million dollars worth of additional investment.

Santé Veritas wants to purchase all of the land surrounding its facility, including the upper parking lot used by residents attending Dwight Hall events. A covenant will be added to the portion of the eastern bank of the property along Marine Avenue to maintain a treed buffer.

Public parking for patrons attending Dwight Hall events will be guaranteed under the amendment.

Santé Veritas will also be involved in consenting to any future application by the city to remove Catalyst property permanently zoned for industrial purposes in the 1955 Incorporation Act. It states that no bylaw or other law or regulation of city council shall operate to restrict the construction, maintenance and operation on the mill site.

“I think that council is comfortable with the way the lines have been drawn,” said Formosa. “This is a good compromise and Santé Veritas Therapeutics has agreed to it.”

The current area occupied by Santé Veritas extends from Elm Street north along Marine Avenue to Ash Avenue, around Yew Street and through former Catalyst property back to Elm Street.

The company has still not received approval from Health Canada to start production.

Santé Veritas recently joined three other big players in the North American cannabis industry to create a new multinational corporation called TILT Holdings.