Council grappling with new MMJ regs

Field trip to see a field of marijuana in the future?

While not quite settled at the state level, the medical marijuana (MMJ) issue continues to be a topic of discussion in Crested Butte. A one-hour work session on the matter was held by the Town Council on Monday, August 16. Council members and town staff basically concluded that when the state finally sets regulations, Crested Butte may have to revamp its current ordinance.

“At some point this winter, we’ll need to draft a new ordinance,” explained town clerk Eileen Hughes. “Once the state finishes its rule making, we’ll know what to include in it. Our ordinance is tailored to the interim situation.”
The council discussed the wisdom of allowing grow operations in town. “We’re a small community and we have a small commercial zone,” said mayor Leah Williams. “If we didn’t limit the number, we could end up with a lot of medical marijuana-related businesses over there.”
“I’ve never been to a grow operation site and I think we should arrange to go see one,” suggested councilperson Jim Schmidt. “I’ve heard the argument against them because of how much energy they use, but if the growing takes place in Boulder they use the same energy and then have to use more to transport it here. I’d like to go see one and view the impacts.”
Chief marshal Tom Martin said some real concerns from fire safety issues to the greater chance of mold and mildew are associated with grow operations. “It sounds like a stand-alone operation is better than an operation being located below a residence or next to a business,” he said. “I’m not sure our commercial zone is the appropriate place.”
“Some of these issues apply to growing tomatoes and some of them don’t,” added town building and zoning director Bob Gillie. “But you aren’t likely to get broken into for tomatoes.”
“That is a real possibility,” said Martin.
Town manager Susan Parker pointed out that the state may not even allow public hearings for grow operations, in an effort to keep their locations discreet.
Councilperson Dan Escalante expressed a desire to allow a more free market approach to the Crested Butte dispensary issue. While five applications were received, only three dispensaries are operating in town.
“The gold rush is probably over,” said Gillie. “I predict a lot of the regulations will be adjusted and we may not need any limit. We were dealing with less than perfect information at the time and we tried to cover our bets and it worked.”
“So allowing five dispensaries for 3,800 people at this end of the valley might be too many,” said Schmidt.
“We may find out the dispensary owners aren’t driving around in Rolls Royces,” said Gillie. “It’s possible we won’t have to have a limited number of dispensaries in an ordinance when the smoke clears.”
“The bottom line is we don’t want to make any changes to our ordinance yet because we don’t know what is coming from the state,” said Parker.
Look for further discussion on the MMJ issue in the fall.