Steinbach city council wants nothing in its Zoning Bylaw at this time about retail cannabis outlets. Council met in committee Tuesday evening for a preliminary look at revising the city's Official Community Plan and its Zoning Bylaw, something that is done at least every five years. The administration had recommended council consider zoning regulations for cannabis retail outlets in view of the fact they will become legal in Canada later this year. But Deputy Mayor Cari Penner says council wants more information on federal and provincial plans for these outlets before making any decision on the matter.

"Council is still waiting for further information on the cannabis issue and how it will affect our municipality, our city. So council did not want to make any clear directives at all on the Zoning Bylaw as of today."

Council also had extensive discussions on the regulation of metal shipping containers. Penner says it's a sensitive issue but the city also does not want them to become unsightly.

"Council wants to make sure that it remains business-friendly and we understand that these shipping containers are used for storage, affordable storage. We also want to ensure that there are some guidelines to regulate shipping containers as well, so there's a balance that we're trying to achieve there."

Council did agree that temporary garage structures which are made of materials like cloth or plastic will require a temporary building permit and can only be used five months of the year.

There was also considerable discussion on other matters including whether to require businesses along gravel roads to pave their parking lots. No final decision was made.

Council also had some discussions on the Official Community Plan which will now include the newly-annexed areas of the city. Most of the new area will remain agricultural for the foreseeable future. Penner says council wants to be sensitive to the residents of these new parts of the city.

"We want to make them not suffer for the annexation and we want to have some regard for how they have been functioning in the RM of Hanover prior to this. Now that they are in Steinbach, we want to make that transition as smooth as possible."

For example, on the issue of septic fields, residents in most of the newly-annexed areas will be allowed to repair and replace existing septic fields.

Penner adds discussions will continue on all these matters related to the Official Community Plan and the Zoning Bylaw before any changes are considered for final approval later this year.