Pubdate: Sun, 19 Feb 2012
Source: Fort Collins Coloradoan (CO)
Copyright: 2012 The Fort Collins Coloradoan
Contact: http://www.coloradoan.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.coloradoan.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1580
Author: Kevin Duggan

FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL TO WEIGH MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULE CHANGES

Marijuana dispensaries may be gone from Fort Collins, but the 
controversy over how to deal with medical cannabis is not.

City officials still are struggling with how to mesh a voter-approved 
ban on medical marijuana businesses with state law that allows 
patients and caregivers to grow their own marijuana.

The City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to give final consideration 
to three ordinances that would change city code to reflect the ban, 
which passed in November. But council members will weigh some options.

Proponents of medical marijuana have asked the council to consider 
allowing grows, which would serve patients and caregivers, in 
commercial or industrial zones rather than just residential areas.

That would require changing the city's land use code, a process that 
would take months and require review by the city Planning and Zoning 
Board. City staff members have proposed studying the issue and taking 
public comment before making a recommendation within the next six 
months, said Fort Collins police Capt. Jerry Schiager.

How the ban on marijuana businesses will affect residential 
neighborhoods is not yet clear, he said. And regulating potentially 
large-scale grows in commercial areas could be difficult.

"We don't know what the demand will be," Schiager said. "We're 
getting into a new model and we want to see how it works."

When the city established its regulations for medical marijuana 
businesses a year ago, a primary concern was keeping grows out of 
neighborhoods, said Steve Ackerman, owner of Organic Alternatives. 
The store closed last week.

Because of the ban, grows are allowed only in residential areas.

"I don't think voters intended to support an explosion in residential 
grows," he said. "This may turn into a case of 'Be careful of what 
you wish for.'"

The dispensaries served thousands of state-registered patients. The 
demand for medical marijuana will not go away, Ackerman said, and the 
area "Does not have a ton of caregivers."

"The most immediate problem is people need access to medicine and 
they are going to have to find new ways to do that," he said. "I 
don't know who is going to move in to supply them."

Another issue the council has to decide is whether to allow grows in 
duplexes and multi-family buildings. City code currently is silent on 
the matter.

The code limits the number of plants that may be grown in a 
single-family residence to 12, regardless of how many registered 
patients live there.

An option for addressing the loophole is banning marijuana grows from 
multi-family dwellings. City staff members have recommended applying 
the 12-plant limit to those types of residences.

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[sidebar]

Interested?

The Fort Collins City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City 
Hall, 300 LaPorte Ave. The meeting will be broadcast on cable Channel 
14. Information: www.fcgov.com

Also on the agenda

- - Amendments to procedures for handling appeals of decisions by city 
boards, commissions and hearing officers to the City Council. 
Proposed changes include allowing council members to file an appeal 
and then participate in hearing the appeal.

- - An appropriation of $14.8 million in Federal Transit Authority 
funding to the Mason Corridor project and the MAX bus rapid transit 
system. The total project cost is $86.8 million.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart