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. - ---------------------- [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. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart