News
ENLARGE
CARBONDALE, Colorado — Members of the Carbondale Town Council will try to answer a number of new questions tonight about managing medical marijuana, including whether or not to impose a moratorium on new operations until the town finalizes its own rules.
Other questions, according to the council's agenda, will include how to better control patient grow centers, as well as understanding the town's zoning and criminal enforcement role. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Carbondale Town Hall, 511 Colorado Ave. The medical marijuana discussion is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
So far to date, the board has discussed the following regarding its medical marijuana policies:
• Dispensaries must only occur in commercial zones, and commercial grow operations would be in a different category;
• The council is recommending that patients are allowed to grow a maximum of 12 plants per household;
• The distance between operations and schools is still undecided. The state requires 1,000 feet between the boundary of the school and the operation, while some members of Carbondale's town council said they could live with 500 feet; and
• Schools include preschools, elementary, middle and high schools, although the council is split on whether or not to include the Colorado Mountain College campus.
New information the council will consider include:
• Sales tax revenues from medical marijuana dispensaries include $54,649 as of Oct. 29, 2010.
• There are 11, not 12, dispensaries within town limits.
• A commercial grow operation is in the process of complying with health and safety regulations by the building department; a building permit stop work order is in place until regulations are satisfied.
• Garfield County residents voted Nov. 2 to allow commercial grow operations in unincorporated parts of the county.
• The State Department of Revenue plans to have the final version of rules regulating medical marijuana operations by January, which means they would go into effect around March 2011. The Colorado Municipal League advises that the more items of municipal interest that are covered in the state rules, the less towns like Carbondale will have to deal with in establishing local rules.
Other questions, according to the council's agenda, will include how to better control patient grow centers, as well as understanding the town's zoning and criminal enforcement role. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Carbondale Town Hall, 511 Colorado Ave. The medical marijuana discussion is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
So far to date, the board has discussed the following regarding its medical marijuana policies:
• Dispensaries must only occur in commercial zones, and commercial grow operations would be in a different category;
• The council is recommending that patients are allowed to grow a maximum of 12 plants per household;
• The distance between operations and schools is still undecided. The state requires 1,000 feet between the boundary of the school and the operation, while some members of Carbondale's town council said they could live with 500 feet; and
• Schools include preschools, elementary, middle and high schools, although the council is split on whether or not to include the Colorado Mountain College campus.
New information the council will consider include:
• Sales tax revenues from medical marijuana dispensaries include $54,649 as of Oct. 29, 2010.
• There are 11, not 12, dispensaries within town limits.
• A commercial grow operation is in the process of complying with health and safety regulations by the building department; a building permit stop work order is in place until regulations are satisfied.
• Garfield County residents voted Nov. 2 to allow commercial grow operations in unincorporated parts of the county.
• The State Department of Revenue plans to have the final version of rules regulating medical marijuana operations by January, which means they would go into effect around March 2011. The Colorado Municipal League advises that the more items of municipal interest that are covered in the state rules, the less towns like Carbondale will have to deal with in establishing local rules.
