Pubdate: Wed, 11 May 2016
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Column: Cannabiz
Copyright: 2016 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Nat Stein

COUNCIL CONSIDERS YEAR-LONG MORATORIUM AFTER PROMISING NO EXTENSION

"The moratorium will not be extended" reads a line in the ordinance 
that the Colorado Springs City Council passed in late November, 
establishing a six-month moratorium on marijuana business licensing. 
Now, with that moratorium due to expire on May 25, Council is 
considering putting a new one in place - this time for a full year.

"I hear what you're saying, 'It's not an extension; it's a whole new 
ordinance.' I got you," Speakeasy Vape Lounge owner and City Council 
hopeful Jaymen Johnson said to Council at its April 26 meeting. "It 
seems you guys have figured out the loophole thing just as well as 
the clubs did, so congratulations. Glad we could show you how it's done."

Sardonic chuckles emanated from the sparse crowd but subsided 
quickly. Council was discussing the prospect of reneging on a clear 
promise on which many business owners' investments depend.

Councilor Larry Bagley, who chaired the marijuana task force created 
by the last moratorium that recommended this new moratorium, 
explained the rationale. "We worked for six months now, and that's 
almost no time at all," he said. "The future is going to be something 
we never thought of. We need to take a little time ... to make some 
really good plans going forward..."

The original moratorium was enacted because Council determined that 
even though the medical marijuana industry is 15 years old, "a 
situation [that affects] the life, health, property and the public 
peace exists." Hence the city shouldn't process any land use 
applications for medical marijuana facilities (the only type allowed 
in the Springs) until a task force appointed by Council president 
Merv Bennett takes the time to develop some new rules and regulations 
to address that situation.

Upon first convening, the task force decided to prioritize health and 
safety issues. Determining what those were and what to do about them 
was a slow process, but in the end, the 14-member group put forward 
four ordinances for Council to consider:

The 12-plant-per-residence limit;

A rezoning of commercial grow houses to use-by-right in industrial 
areas with conditional use in some commercial areas;

A split in the mmj-infused product manufacturing license (MMIP) into 
hazardous - only permitted in industrial zones - and non-hazardous - 
conditionally permitted in commercial zones;

And an increase in the mandatory buffer between marijuana businesses 
and schools, child-care centers and substance abuse treatment 
facilities from 400 to 1,000 feet.

As those proposals work their way through the legislative process, 
the task force made a last-minute recommendation for another 
year-long moratorium so it can tackle some secondary issues that 
didn't count as top priority first time around. That includes things 
like co-op caregiver grows, advertising, gifting, co-location (read: 
Gas and Grass), electric and water usage, odor control and 
420-friendly vacation rentals.

Green Pharm owner Dale Hecht was one of the few pro-cannabis task 
force members. Though he's satisfied with what came out of the group, 
he argued that going through the same song and dance again would be pointless.

"Did we get every issue covered? Absolutely not," he said. "Would we 
get every issue covered in the next year? I'd say absolutely not. 
Even if we had a 10-year moratorium, you won't get every issue 
covered because this is a fluid industry."

Others argued that stifling such a "fluid" industry would run counter 
to the free market principles which nearly everyone in the room professed.

On a nuts-and-bolts level, Dan Rial - president of the Pikes Peak 
Mechanical Contractors Association - said, "There's a lot of money 
being brought into the city [through] taxes, permits, architecture, 
construction and design. ... If you put a moratorium, we'll lose 
jobs." What gets built in the city, he argued, should be dictated by 
demand, not by artificial limits.

A Wellness Centers owner Tom Scudder, who also served on the task 
force, was the first to propose the new moratorium, though he has 
since clarified that he'd prefer a hard cap on licenses (as Denver 
now has). He pointed out that the Springs, though it has just over 8 
percent of the state's population, has more than a quarter of the 
state's dispensaries. Those dispensaries, however, serve customers 
from all over southern and eastern Colorado, where various 
jurisdictions have outlawed marijuana sales of any kind.

"I believe in the free market, " Scudder said. "But we need to be 
real that we don't have a free market here."

Johnson of the Vape Lounge noted that government regulations are 
already squeezing consumers, especially patients. "Combined with the 
ordinance against grows, you're strong-arming patients to go to these 
dispensaries," Johnson said, acknowledging there were two (three 
depending how you count it) pro-cannabis task force members who had a 
hand in crafting these regulations. But, he noted, "to say that 
dispensary owners have the best will of consumers in mind is a little 
like letting Walmart decide what happens with food stamps and where 
you can spend them."

Tonya Garduno of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council was blunt: 
"There's no reason to do this unless you want to destroy the 
industry, which is what I think is truly happening."

After some procedural jockeying, Council voted 5-3 in favor of 
adopting the ordinance. Councilors Bill Murray, Helen Collins and 
Keith King were in the minority. Second reading was scheduled for May 
10, after the Indy's press deadline.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom