Kamloops city staff are working to modernize rules for growing cannabis within city limits.

The city’s property use coordinator Dave Jones says the changes will allow recreational cannabis to be grown in the same areas as medicinal cannabis.

“Obviously now that the medical system has moved forward to the legalization of recreational cannabis, the manufacturers, not only are they doing still for the medical side, but obviously a lot of them are still going to produce cannabis for the recreation side,” Jones says.

He adds cannabis won’t be grown in areas where the city doesn’t feel it is right to do so. Specifically, Jones says the city will allow cannabis to be grown in industrial zones for heavy and general use and in agricultural zones that are part of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

“Our previous zoning was almost identical to what we have now. The heavy industrial, and other areas that we would normally have that production… So quite likely an indoor cannabis grow operation would probably be unseen and you won’t smell it and you probably wouldn’t even know it’s there from a light industrial or an industrial type of area.”

Kamloops city council will decide whether or not to approve the zoning updates later today.