A public hearing for nine cannabis retail store applications in Surrey will be held on Monday, April 14, 2025. 

The stores, if approved, will be the first in the city, BC’s second-largest. Surrey City Council first released a proposal for up to 12 cannabis stores in early 2024, approving the plan in April. 

At the time, the city had said it would consider up to two locations for each of its six distinct communities: Whalley/City Centre, Newton, South Surrey, Guildford, Cloverdale, and Fleetwood. Three of those original stores were not included in this round of approvals. 

In a council meeting on land use on March 10, Surrey City Council members voted to move those nine applications to the public feedback stage of licensing. All councillors approved each one, except for Councillor Nagra and Mayor Locke, who opposed them all. (h/t to surreyleadernow for first noticing the vote.)

One of the original cannabis retail applicants, 137 Brands at 17608 56 Avenue, was replaced with “UEM Cannabis” with a proposed location of #100 5828 176 Street. It was suggested that the location would be too close to a school. That application was not scheduled for the April 14 meeting. 

The second original Cloverdale location was Queensborough Cannabis at 19581 Fraser Highway. That location is also not scheduled for the April 14 meeting. 

The third, Surrey Cannabis Connection at 15148 Fraser Highway, was also not included. 

Surrey is the second-largest municipality in British Columbia, after Vancouver, with a population of more than 560,000 people. Vancouver, which has more than 660,000 people, currently has 80 cannabis stores according to the city’s document (83 listed as open or in the queue according to BC).

In 2023, Surrey City Council began exploring the possibility of allowing cannabis stores, directing city staff to develop a plan. In July of that year, council sent a plan back to city staff to be reworked to address some councillors’ concerns.

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