Listening to Jukka Laurio argue about his business licence before city council is something of a familar experience for regular members of the gallery, but March 21 may have been his final appearance.
91裸聊视频淚t has been an admirable struggle. I really enjoyed the process and you are all noble and worthy adversaries. I think a lot of public education came out of this,91裸聊视频� said Laurio, explaining that he was closing the shop as of 6 p.m. on March 23, referencing the warning issued by the RCMP last week.
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Council was being asked to cancel Laurio91裸聊视频檚 business licence on Herbal Green, which he operates as a marijuana dispensary. Last summer, he had a previous business licence cancelled over the marijuana sales issue.
91裸聊视频淚 won91裸聊视频檛 spend too much time on the background because it has been repeated so many times,91裸聊视频� said bylaw supervisor Tina Seibert, introducing her report to council.
On Nov. 9, Laurio applied for a business licence for Herbal Green as a food and nutritional retail store, which the city granted him on Jan. 3.
91裸聊视频淗e assured city staff that it would not include the sale of cannabis products,91裸聊视频� said Seibert. 91裸聊视频淗e told us he wanted to have a grocery store, basically.91裸聊视频�
Lukka, however, continued to sell marijuana and related products, and contested Seibert91裸聊视频檚 evaluation: 91裸聊视频淚 wouldn91裸聊视频檛 say false, it was just sort of not fully disclosed.91裸聊视频�
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91裸聊视频淩ecently, staff have found a motion detector and a CCTV camera, all installed on city property, without city permission,91裸聊视频� said Siebert. 91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 just within the last couple of weeks.91裸聊视频�
Siebert also said they had received a number of noise, odour and parking complaints related to the business.
So far, Lukka has stacked up two bylaw offence notices at $250 each and 59 municipal ticket information (MTI) fines at $500 each, for a total of $30,000 owed to the city. Seibert said that issue is expected to go to provincial court in early April.
91裸聊视频淏asically, he has disputed all of those tickets. We have jumped from MTIs to civil injunction requests,91裸聊视频� said Seibert, who noted in her report that the city has spent over $10,000 in legal and labour costs dealing with marijuana dispensaries like Laurio91裸聊视频檚.
They91裸聊视频檝e also collected $26,900 in fines from non-compliant dispensaries.
City staff wanted council to suspend or cancel Laurio91裸聊视频檚 business licence, and to direct staff to start the legal proceedings against Laurio, both to prevent his ongoing violation of city bylaw and apply for ancillary relief.
Laurio was complimentary to Seibert91裸聊视频檚 report when he stepped up to present his case.
91裸聊视频淚t is an excellent piece of work. One of the best ones that has ever come forward so far,91裸聊视频� said Laurio. 91裸聊视频淚t is just disappointing that I am not going to be able to dispute it, refute it or argue about it.91裸聊视频�
Laurio said it was up to council whether they wanted to continue with the Supreme Court injunction proceedings.
91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 really care what you do from this point on. I don91裸聊视频檛 really know what I am going to do,91裸聊视频� said Laurio, who remained elusive when asked whether he planned to pay the fines owed to the city before the provincial court case.
91裸聊视频淚f you want to negotiate something between now and then, I am fine,91裸聊视频� he told city council. 91裸聊视频淚 am perfectly willing to go to court and we can argue. I am pretty good at arguing.91裸聊视频�
Seibert said Laurio91裸聊视频檚 closure plans were 91裸聊视频渘ews to us91裸聊视频� and asked council to endorse the staff request to take Laurio to Supreme Court.
91裸聊视频淲e should proceed with the injunctive request, just because you can say one thing and do another,91裸聊视频� said Seibert. 91裸聊视频淯ntil there is a definite solution in place, I would prefer we continue our process.91裸聊视频�
Council voted unanimously to cancel Laurio91裸聊视频檚 business licence and allow staff to continue with legal action.
