MMPR Grow op: Small Scale

Kron3007

Well-Known Member
Thanks MarijeJane,
What about if you turn the dwelling into an operation? , wouldn't be living there, I think it might be better to rent to start.
this is the way i read it but i can't get a straight answer form HC. i have some friends that own property on a reserve and are interested in renting me their place cheap, Do you know if there would be complications with having an operation there?
If it is zoned residential I think you are out of luck. I think one of the big reasons for the new regulations is to prevent residential grow ops.
 

Kron3007

Well-Known Member
Hey GreenEra, what role do you see yourself playing in the MMPR? Investor? Grower? Both? Landowner? We have not sought funding yet. We have decided that getting our license first would be better than getting turned down because MMPR understanding is low and new. This would be the only way for a bank or potential investor to take us seriously, in our opinion. Thanks for the info MarijeJane. Guess we are in for a long wait...... We will keep you all posted and wish you would too. Anybody else out there that has submitted an application? What happened to cdnsimon, bigbudha, quebed? Come on guys, out of 150 applications submitted to date, as a collective we could all learn so much about HC and their process. Do you think every application gets moved to the review stage or do they get weeded out and denied before then?
The problem is that you dont get a license until you pass the site inspection, which means you need to build/renovate the facility first at great expense. It would have been a lot easier if they would have given conditional licenses prior to the site inspection based on meeting what was stated in the application, but this is not how they have structured it. Instead, them arranging a site inspection is no guarantee that a license will be granted. It is a bit of a catch 22, as you need to invest a lot of cash to get the license but people dont want to invest until you have the license.
 

GreenEra2013

New Member
HeyKron3007,
At first I had a similar thought...but another take would be for HC to provide conditional or tentative approvals with a timeline for upgrade with follow up inspection, simply to the costs involved to upgrade a building up to par. Not that they care about your money but simply that would not be fit with the business-friendly environment they are trying to portray. Even for a relatively small site which I am considering (slightly over 2000 sq) it would take anywhere between $50k to $70k to upgrade ( security apparatus, fire-rated/mold rated ceiling, a complete seal of concrete walls, new ventilation, etc. These costs would obviously be exponential for larger sites, and most growers, investors would not the risk pouring tens or hundreds of thousands of borrowed dough without any type of assurance!
I just can't imagine for instance that new owners of Smith's falls Hershey's 470,000 sf starting any retrofitting before HC's hint of approval. Most of the sales/leases of these sites will be conditioned on a government contract aka HC approval, any thoughts?
 

Kootenaygirl

Active Member
Finally checking out a potential building this Sunday. Up till this point I haven't found a place even worth looking at. Wish me luck.

Edit: I third the bring back Maximum motion.
Good luck Raider. Way to go not giving up. Never give up!!! Welcome back pfk182.
 

Kootenaygirl

Active Member
If it is zoned residential I think you are out of luck. I think one of the big reasons for the new regulations is to prevent residential grow ops.
It's best to check with your local municipality. Everyone is different. In fact, we have local municipality approval with our residential zoning. No where in any of the regulations does the federal government say you cannot grow in residential zoning, you just can't grow inside a dwelling and you have to follow your local municipality's rules which vary widely across the Country. Just because its residential, doesn't mean it cannot be deemed suitable. Remember, that zoning can be very old and very new, which puts residential properties in a huge range of sizes and locations. Some people have residential zoning on their 50 acre parcels.
 

Kron3007

Well-Known Member
HeyKron3007,
At first I had a similar thought...but another take would be for HC to provide conditional or tentative approvals with a timeline for upgrade with follow up inspection, simply to the costs involved to upgrade a building up to par. Not that they care about your money but simply that would not be fit with the business-friendly environment they are trying to portray. Even for a relatively small site which I am considering (slightly over 2000 sq) it would take anywhere between $50k to $70k to upgrade ( security apparatus, fire-rated/mold rated ceiling, a complete seal of concrete walls, new ventilation, etc. These costs would obviously be exponential for larger sites, and most growers, investors would not the risk pouring tens or hundreds of thousands of borrowed dough without any type of assurance!
I just can't imagine for instance that new owners of Smith's falls Hershey's 470,000 sf starting any retrofitting before HC's hint of approval. Most of the sales/leases of these sites will be conditioned on a government contract aka HC approval, any thoughts?
I asked HC about this and they told me that there is no guarantee at all. I assume that if you make it to the site inspection stage you have essentially been approved based on your plan, but that is not enough to convince most potential investors. Even if the lease is conditional, you still have to sink money into the upgrades, and most buildings would need a lot of upgrades before the site inspection. To me it seems like a way (one of several) to stop smaller applicants that dont have large amounts of capital backing them; larger companies have the resources and confidence to take this type of risk given the potential payoff.
 

Kootenaygirl

Active Member
There is another way to look at this folks. We have ascertained from HC that the site inspection date will be a mutually agreed upon date. With that said, we believe that if HC is asking for a site inspection, that you have passed all the big hurdles. The application process is extensive and covers all aspects of your site and building plus, plus, plus.

So, if you have your location nailed down, we cannot see a reason why you could not send HC your completed application with a proposed building and then build once you get "approval" via a site inspection date from HC. You might have to delay the site inspection in order to be ready, but this is a way to not spend your wad until you have at least gotten over the largest application hurdles.
 

bcbud11

Member
Our Quality Assurance Pre-Licensing Report was comprised of less than 5% of the total application pages. Basically, we repeated back to them, showing how we were in compliance with each and every rule that they made in Division 4, point by point, with respect to buildings, equipment, and the sanitation program used. The real work was in creating the Standard Operating Procedures from scratch. These SOP's were not sent to HC but were referred to in the Pre-License Report. HC has not requested a copy of them to date. You are working for a company and you are in on the application process? That must make you the lawyer or the grower. As a grower I hope your not working for cheap. I know the lawyer isn't. Have you got a building yet or do you need to build still. In or out of the lower mainland? Best of luck and it's time to get a share and partner up if your the grower, you will be doing most of the work.
Thanks! Our QA report is relatively short as well, just wanted to see what others who have had successful submittals were doing. We are out of the lower mainland and we've purchased a property for the project and will begin construction after HC approves our site plans, which they have indicated they will do as per our last correspondence with them. I'm the designated QA person for the project. My background is in QA/RA in the pharmaceutical industry and I've dealt with HC for several years.
 

pfk182

Well-Known Member
It's best to check with your local municipality. Everyone is different. In fact, we have local municipality approval with our residential zoning. No where in any of the regulations does the federal government say you cannot grow in residential zoning, you just can't grow inside a dwelling and you have to follow your local municipality's rules which vary widely across the Country. Just because its residential, doesn't mean it cannot be deemed suitable. Remember, that zoning can be very old and very new, which puts residential properties in a huge range of sizes and locations. Some people have residential zoning on their 50 acre parcels.
I know that I read somewhere in the official June 2013 document, that you need to have the proper usage along with zoning to apply. BUT... if you got the approval from your municipality, I would presume that they are aware and consenting in this manner. So I don't see why you can't.

Municipality are all different, some are picky, some are very loose. I know mine are a bunches of picky bastards, I haven't presented my formal paper to advise them. I am currently zoned Industrial where I am, with plenty of different usage, because over here there's Zoning AND usage. They bother people for fences being 1 ft too close to the line of they're lands and shit like that lol, they better not give me problems because I will whoop some booty I swear.
 

analyst84

Member
Hey guys,

I have found an building that used to be a pharmaceutical company. It meets all the security,sanitation, ventilation etc. requirements needed for this operation. It is also huge, 120,000 sqf. It is currently under power of sale with an asking price of $2.1 million, it could probably sell for much less. Obviously I cant afford this on my own but if anyone would be interested in partnering up this is a pristine opportunity to be a national leader in the industry. I'm estimating a total of 3 million would be needed. It seems like a lot but if we have 10 parties with $300K we could get moving pretty quickly. If anyone would be interested in forming a partnership email at [email protected].

cheers
 

MarijeJane

Well-Known Member
Thanks MarijeJane,
What about if you turn the dwelling into an operation? , wouldn't be living there, I think it might be better to rent to start.
this is the way i read it but i can't get a straight answer form HC. i have some friends that own property on a reserve and are interested in renting me their place cheap, Do you know if there would be complications with having an operation there?
I am very unsure about that. I know it is hard to get a straight answer from Health Canada but a dwelling is generally zoned as such and to change the zoning of the building to agricultural use or commercial use would require a zoning amendment in most areas. I think you would need to clear that with both the local municipality and Health Canada. Best of luck and please keep us informed. This info would be interesting to many!
 

MarijeJane

Well-Known Member
Finally checking out a potential building this Sunday. Up till this point I haven't found a place even worth looking at. Wish me luck.

Edit: I third the bring back Maximum motion.
Good luck Raider! Please keep us informed on how it is going.
 

kohaldawg

New Member
Hi, I have a question about video and site security: Does anyone have a solution to the requirement to store two years of video as required under the MMPR? Does this pertain to all video sources or only to the parameter? The security company that I'm getting quotes from thought the two year storage requirement would be a challenge.
Thanks
.
 

oakley1984

Well-Known Member
Hi, I have a question about video and site security: Does anyone have a solution to the requirement to store two years of video as required under the MMPR? Does this pertain to all video sources or only to the parameter? The security company that I'm getting quotes from thought the two year storage requirement would be a challenge.
Thanks
.
seriously they want 2 years of recorded backlog of video surveillance kept?
ahahahahahaha, yet again another impossible hurtle thrown out by health canada
that is 1000's of TB of information, the storage rack to keep such an amount of data would be in excess of $50,000.
No question.
 

BigBhuda

Well-Known Member
Hey GreenEra, what role do you see yourself playing in the MMPR? Investor? Grower? Both? Landowner? We have not sought funding yet. We have decided that getting our license first would be better than getting turned down because MMPR understanding is low and new. This would be the only way for a bank or potential investor to take us seriously, in our opinion. Thanks for the info MarijeJane. Guess we are in for a long wait...... We will keep you all posted and wish you would too. Anybody else out there that has submitted an application? What happened to cdnsimon, bigbudha, quebed? Come on guys, out of 150 applications submitted to date, as a collective we could all learn so much about HC and their process. Do you think every application gets moved to the review stage or do they get weeded out and denied before then?
Hey guys. Haven't been around for a while. I have not submitted an application. To be honest I have kind of been hanging back to see how the process goes. I would really like to see what I would consider a small scale mom and pop approved as a proof of concept. We basically have a 1,200 square foot farm shop type building and I would like to start with only 6 lights. What I am thinking would be ideal is that I would like to be a subcontractor for another producer. In exchange for providing quality control guidelines we would wholesale the product at a reasonable price and they would handle the testing, packaging and client fulfilment. We also have a 1,500 sq ft greenhouse laying in pieces to go up next spring. I would love to hear if anyone gets a fabric greenhouse approved with standard security fencing and surveillance. Just where I am at and coming from right now. If anyone is interested in this type of cooperation p.m. me or let me know.
 

WHATFG

Well-Known Member
Wow!!!!!!

The more I read the more scared I become. When I read how much people are spending to start up, it freaks me to think what I'm going to have to pay for my medication. Does anyone have any kind of estimate as to what they're going to charge per gram, per oz per whatever weight you want to sell it by? I think at this point, I would be afraid of not getting patients to cover all my costs just to open the f'n doors. It's not just HC that has really screwed this program up! It could have been a great program, but there always has to be someone to take advantage of and want to profit from the sick and dying. Thank you to all the people who "grew" for "themselves or someone else" and just had to make a buck from it. For example, I was supposed to have a dg.. But that c sucker wanted 2 oz off the top "because we all have to do our share" and if anybody asks...... Why couldn't he just tell me it would cost x$ to grow for me. Instead, he waited until I had my licence before telling me it was going to cost me. It is snakes like this guy who,have ruined this program for people like me. I don't mean to sound whiney, just pissed right off and scared of what my future holds as far as medication goes.
 

GreenSanta

Well-Known Member
If everyone could grow their own and make the limit at a 1000watts of light over plants flowering, and not about plant counts, it would make more sense to me. Licensed privatize company could grow for the patients that can't grow their own. I can't believe they would legalize it but not allow patients to grow their own.
 

MarijeJane

Well-Known Member
Did anyone here attend the Greenline convention on the weekend? It was very informative and roughly 200 potential LP's were there.
 
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