CannTrust will grow in Pelham.
The licensed producer of cannabis has received approval from the municipality to move ahead with an expansion of its facility in Pelham, but there are some changes to the original plan.
The facility will grow by 36-thousand square metres, instead of the 55-thousand in its initial application.
CannTrust's announcement comes after the town took steps last fall to slow the growing number of licensed producers after complaints about bright lights and odour.
In October, Pelham banned any new grow facilities and existing ones were banned from expanding for one year under a new interim control bylaw.
CannTrust said in December its expansion application to Pelham was submitted before the bylaw was enacted, but it had not received the necessary permits.
Company officials says it is pleased with its recent discussions with town officials and it plans to address the community's light concerns with additional fan ventilation so its facilities' shades can be completely closed.
"We are pleased with the outcome of the discussions with the Town of Pelham," said Peter Aceto, CEO of CannTrust. "We believe this decision reflects our view that we are a trusted member of the community and that we are intent on listening to our stakeholders. The demand for our medical and recreational products continues to be well in excess of supply and we are keen to move ahead with the Phase III expansion and meet our capacity targets. We also continue to evaluate several strategic alternatives to meet and increase our initial production capacity goals. We are actively pursuing strategic acquisitions of land and facilities, both inside and outside Ontario and hope to update shareholders with these initiatives in due course. Our active patient count continues to increase, and the recreational market is currently undersupplied. We intend to make every effort to serve these markets with our award-winning products."
The fully-permitted Phase II expansion remains on course to bring the Company's capacity to 50,000 kg per year. CannTrust expects first harvest from the Phase II expansion in Q1/19. Construction of the final range should be complete by the end of January 2019.