Pubdate: Fri, 08 Apr 2011 Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) Copyright: 2011 The Arizona Republic Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24 Author: Edward Gately, The Arizona Republic RESTAURATEUR FILES BID TO OPERATE FOUNTAIN HILLS MEDICAL-POT OUTLET A restaurant owner who lives in Chandler has cleared the first hurdle toward opening Fountain Hills' only medical-marijuana dispensary. Josh Levine, owner of Loco Patron Mexican Grill, filed a zoning-verification application with the Planning & Zoning Division of the Fountain Hills Development Services Department. Levine's medical-marijuana dispensary would be at 16935 E. Colony Drive, at Panorama Drive. The site now is a vacant lot. Senior planner Bob Rodgers has verified the location meets all town zoning requirements to comply with a state law that legalized growing, manufacturing and dispensing medical marijuana. Levine is being represented by Court Rich, a Rose Law Group attorney. "What he's looking to do is create a top-of-the-line dispensary and to associate himself with doctors to make it medically based, the kind of place the town would welcome," Rich said. "The state rules require that you have a medical director. . . . The key to the operation will be his association with top-of-the-line doctors to make sure it's a medically based facility." Levine chose Fountain Hills because "geographically, it's somewhat isolated" so there could be a number of people who could benefit from having a dispensary there, Rich said. Also, the Mayo Clinic and other health-care facilities are nearby, he said. The town received three other zoning-verification applications for medical-marijuana facilities, and all were denied because the locations were too close to North Chapel Church, at 16929 E. Enterprise Drive. Only one medical-marijuana dispensary is allowed within the town, and that would be in a commercial-zoning district that includes the area along Colony Drive off Saguaro Boulevard. Rodgers said that area of zoning isn't very large. There are only two or three parcels in the C-3 zoning district that would qualify for a medical-marijuana facility, Rich said. No use permit is required from the town for operating a medical-marijuana dispensary, Rodgers said. An operator ultimately must be licensed by the state before it can open. The Arizona Department of Health Services will begin accepting applications for medical-marijuana licenses on June 1; dispensary licenses will be issued later this summer. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.