A company planning to build a 1.2-million-square-foot cannabis production facility in Merritt is getting closer to breaking ground.

Emerald Plants Health Source recently bought 56 acres on Midday Valley Road.

Merritt mayor Linda Brown says staff with the company met with her and several city staff members this week.

“We didn’t talk details because they’re not ready yet, they haven’t got their license from Health Canada. They have purchased the land, we’ve asked that they have an open house or a committee of the whole (meeting) with council and invite the town in, and let the town know what they’re all about… They’re trying to be as community-minded as they possibly can be,” she says.

“So far so good. We don’t know a whole lot about the company, but what we do know is that they have come to us and they have presented well to us and they are looking to move forward with the blessing of Health Canada. We welcome them to community if they are an employer that will employ the city and become community-minded. It’s hard to beat that kind of project.”

Brown says the company won’t need to rezone its property since it is already zoned for light-industrial use, and she says there’s no indication when a development permit will come before council.

She points out the property is across the street from the Merritt Green Energy Plant.

“I think they had done a bit of their homework, or probably a lot of their homework. It looks as though they’re trying to enter – or they have entered, I’m not exactly sure – into a contract with Green Energy to buy (their) excess energy. Now what that amounts to, I don’t really know.”

No one with Emerald Plants Health Source has been available to comment to NL.