The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I’m solid on my beliefs”
In response to the passage of Amendment 64, which allows limited recreational marijuana possession by Colorado residents 21 years or older, the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council adopted an ordinance banning commercial marijuana cultivation and testing facilities, along with retail pot shops and businesses that make marijuana products, in town.
The decision to approve the ordinance went forward without much discussion on Tuesday, February 5. The language mimics an earlier ordinance that was passed by the Town Council to prohibit medical marijuana facilities in town; however, discussion about the future legal status of marijuana possession lingered.
Councilman Danny D’Aquila commented on the federal bill being proposed by Colorado Congressman Jared Polis that would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and bring it under regulation through what is now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Mt. Crested Butte Mayor William Buck said.
“It is,” D’Aquila agreed, “and you know, we read the articles in the paper, but I’m solid on my beliefs.”
The council members have unanimously and consistently said that commercially available marijuana doesn’t fit with the family-friendly atmosphere of a resort town, where some guests might be uncomfortable with the changes brought about by Amendment 64. The council took action quickly after medical marijuana became legal two years ago and agreed to follow suit with recreational marijuana operations in November.
The ordinance applies only to large-scale or commercial operations and not to marijuana grown for individual use as allowed under the law.
Councilman Dave Clayton said, “Something I saw in the paper and thought was interesting was that the town of Vail was doing the same thing, going through the process of putting a moratorium on it to study it further and see where it was going to go.”
“Of the 25 members of CAST [Colorado Association of Ski Towns], there’s probably a 50-50 split,” Buck said of towns favoring and not favoring prohibition.
The ordinance points out that according to the amendment, the town can prohibit marijuana-related operations that would otherwise be permitted under the new law, when it’s written.
The town’s ordinance says that after considering the potential impacts commercial marijuana operations could have on the “health, safety and welfare” of the town and its inhabitants, the council “has determined as an exercise of its local land use authority that such marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana product manufacturing facilities, marijuana testing facilities and retail marijuana stores, shall not be located within the corporate limits of the Town, nor shall licenses be granted …”
The council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance.
