Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 Source: Daily News, The (Longview, WA) Copyright: 2011 The Daily News Contact: http://www.tdn.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2621 Author: Barbara LaBoe, The Daily News CASTLE ROCK TURNS TO EMERGENCY ZONING RULES TO RESTRICT MARIJUANA GARDENS CASTLE ROCK -- After learning they couldn't ban collective medical marijuana gardens -- even for six months -- City Councilmembers instead restricted where the gardens can be in an emergency vote Monday night. Starting July 22, collective gardens can be established in certain areas near the two freeway exits - but only if all the application and inspection requirements are met. City officials also noted the gardens will be legal in all the other cities in the county on that date as well, but without the zoning restrictions Castle Rock now requires. "We're between a rock and hard place here," Mayor Paul Helenberg said of not being able to ban or delay the gardens. The council had hoped to enact a six-month moratorium on collective gardens, saying city staff needed more time to prepare for the new state law that allows group grows. The law goes into effect July 22. The council had already taken a first vote on the moratorium. Association of Washington Cities lawyers then said a moratorium isn't legal because it conflicts with state law, city attorney Frank Randolph told the council Monday. That meant that with no action, anyone with a medical marijuana card could start a collective garden anywhere they wanted in the city starting next week. Instead, city staff drafted emergency zoning regulations restricting collective gardens to two "highway business district" areas around the two Interstate 5 exits to the town. Most of the land in both areas is east of the interstate and is removed from the city's downtown and residential core. The emergency zoning regulations -- which are good for six months -- also include several restrictions, including limiting only one collective garden per land parcel, requiring locking fences on all outdoor grows and requiring an application and official building inspection before a garden can be started. Patients with medical marijuana cards also can only belong to one collective garden at a time, and the gardens must keep membership lists for three years. Outdoor gardens must not be able to be seen from any public place. When some residents and Councilman Mike Mask questioned how the city could approve applications for what is still illegal under federal law, Randolph said it's a tricky issue. Medical marijuana patients already can grow their own plants under existing state law, and the new state law allows for the collective gardens as long as they are limited to 10 patients and no more than 45 plants. In theory, there is still the threat of federal prosecution, but right now, federal officials appear to be leaving cities alone as long as they're not seen as profiting from gardens by taxing them, Randolph said. "It's better to try and do something to control it rather than just allowing a Wild West free-for-all," Randolph said. "If (federal officials) crack down on this, then the governor should be arrested, too, and all the people in the Legislature that passed this," Helenberg added. What's needed, Randolph and some councilmen said, is for the state to change the law to allow individual cities and counties to ban the gardens outright -- as was done in Colorado. For now, though, the new zoning regulations are the law of the land in Castle Rock, passing on a 4 to 1 vote with Mask the lone no vote. A public hearing -- required because the council took emergency action so the zoning regulations went into effect immediately -- will be July 27. Randolph said applications can be picked up at City Hall starting today, though he had no estimate on how long it would take to process the forms and inspect any proposed gardens. "No one has any experience with this yet," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.