Pubdate: Thu, 02 Sep 2010
Source: Aspen Times, The  (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Aspen Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/zKpMPhQ7
Website: http://www.aspentimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3784
Author: John Stroud

C'DALE WRESTLES WITH ZONING FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROW SITES

CARBONDALE -- A confidential special review committee should be formed
to consider where commercial-scale medical marijuana grows can be
located and how they should operate, said one Carbondale town trustee.

"If we have multiple sites, each one is going to be different,"
Trustee John Foulkrod said during continued discussion Tuesday night
about various zoning amendments intended to regulate medical marijuana
facilities in Carbondale.

"That would allow all of the issues to be discussed, and allow the
process to be confidential," Foulkrod said.

He suggested a committee made up of key town staff, including the
police chief and building official, and maybe one or two elected trustees.

When a specially appointed Medical Marijuana Facilities Advisory Group
began meeting earlier this year, Town Manager Tom Baker said the
assumption was that any growing operations would be subject to some
higher level of review.

However, when the state approved its medical marijuana regulations
earlier this summer, it required that the location of growing
operations be kept confidential for security reasons. The advisory
group identified the town's industrial zone district as the most
suitable location for commercial grows.

"Staff is suggesting that the town evaluate the impacts of commercial
grows before we open the entire zone district to this use," Baker
wrote in a memo for Tuesday night's meeting. "The town attorney
recommends a limited public process that still meets state
confidentiality requirements."

Carbondale is already home to one medical marijuana growing operation,
in addition to 12 medical marijuana dispensing centers.

The town is considering amendments to its zoning ordinance that would
address such things as where such facilities can be located, how far
they should be from schools and other issues. Once the ordinance is in
draft form, it will be referred to the town's Planning & Zoning
Commission for a formal public hearing and recommendation back to the
Board of Trustees. A hearing will also take place before the trustees
at that time.

"I do have a fear that, if grows are prohibited in Carbondale and
Garfield County, that people are going to go back to residential grows
and the black market," said Tyler Tucker, owner of the Sovereign Salud
dispensary in Carbondale.

Garfield County voters will decide in November whether to ban medical
marijuana facilities, including grow operations, in unincorporated
parts of the county.

"By regulating this type of use, it allows the municipalities to have
more control," he said.

Trustee Frosty Merriott suggested that grow operations obtain at least
30 percent of their energy needs, if not more, from renewable sources.

"I'm asking the same for other commercial users, and it should apply
to these facilities as well," he said.

Merriott also asked for a "voluntary" commitment from medical
marijuana centers to tone down their advertising, including that the
word "medical" be used in all signage and advertising, and that no one
under the age of 18 be allowed inside.

While the town can control on-site signage for such facilities, it
cannot dictate how such businesses advertise through other means.

A majority of the town board agreed that a 500-foot separation between
medical marijuana facilities and schools is adequate, which is the
same requirement for liquor stores.

However, some existing facilities are within that limit already and
would likely be grand-fathered in as a pre-existing, non-conforming
use. Whether that would change if a facility changes ownership or
makes some modification of the premises is still open to debate.

One citizen who commented at the Tuesday night meeting asked if
Carbondale citizens would have a chance to vote on the issues related
to medical marijuana.

"This is uncharted territory, and we need to carefully consider how it
will affect our community," Pete Wiley said. "Five, 10 years down the
road we don't want to look back and wish we'd done it
differently."

The state has given municipalities until July 1, 2011, to create any
local ordinances related to medical marijuana. Carbondale trustees
continued their discussion to Sept. 28. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D