CARBONDALE MOVING FORWARD WITH MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGS

Specific Locations For Grow Operations Confidential

CARBONDALE, Colorado -- Even with 12 current medical marijuana retail
facilities, and prospects for three more, the town of Carbondale is
still not of the mind to put a cap on the number of such facilities it
will allow.

"While a cap would benefit the facilities already in existence, it
would be an artificial constraint on the market," according to one of
the findings of Carbondale's specially appointed Medical Marijuana
Facility Advisory Group.

The group, made up of citizens, business owners, medical marijuana
dispensary owners, medical and mental health professionals, and a
school board representative, presented its findings, along with
several recommendations for a variety of local regulatory controls to
the Carbondale Board of Trustees Tuesday night.

Recent new state legislation does allow communities to place a cap on
the number and size of medical marijuana facilities.

However, one of the new state laws also requires dispensaries -- now
referred to under the law as medical marijuana centers -- to produce
at least 70 percent of their own product. That, in itself, may end up
limiting the number of sales operations that can exist.

"If you own a dispensary, you have to have a grow operation
somewhere," Sherry Caloia, an attorney working with the town to craft
zoning and other regulations around the industry, said at Tuesday's
meeting.

"These operations are scrambling now to meet all of the state
regulations," she said. "But I think we could see fewer dispensaries
now, because of the [grow] requirement."

Ann Toney, an attorney representing one Carbondale dispensary, the
ColoMed Center, agreed.

"I truly believe, from what we've seen in other parts of the state,
that they will thin out," she said. "If you're truly over-saturated,
it will shake out."

The deadline for centers to provide documentation to the state showing
they are able to grow 70 percent of their product is Sept. 1. That may
well serve as the deadline for some dispensaries to either continue
on, or close shop.

In the meantime, the law gives communities like Carbondale the
flexibility to impose local zoning and licensing controls over both
medical marijuana centers and commercial grow operations.

As for distribution centers, the advisory group is recommending that
facilities be a conditional use in three zones, the Historic
Commercial Core, Commercial Transitional and Planned Commercial
Community districts, as well as some Planned Unit Developments (PUD).

Grow operations are another issue altogether.

"In Carbondale, we have no experience with approved commercial medical
marijuana grow operations," the advisory group pointed out in its report.

Earlier this year, the town did shut down an illegal grow operation in
a residential zone district. The advisory group agreed that grow
operations in residential neighborhoods are inappropriate.

Dispensaries may establish grow facilities outside of the jurisdiction
where their retail operation is located, even in other parts of the
state.

Carbondale appears willing to allow such operations as a "conditional
use" in its industrial zone district, as well as certain PUDs where
agricultural nursery operations are an allowed use.

One hitch is that the new state law requires that the specific
location of grow operations be kept confidential for security reasons,
Caloia explained, meaning they can't be subject to a full blown
"special use" review with public noticing and full public hearings.
Certain zones for such operations can be identified, however.

A "conditional use" requires an administrative review by the town,
with input from the police and building departments on such things as
security, fee requirements, minimum distance from schools, ventilation
and odor control.

Carbondale trustees were also OK with an advisory group recommendation
to set the minimum distance for medical marijuana facilities from
schools and drug/alcohol rehabilitation facilities at 500 feet,
instead of the 1,000 feet spelled out in state law. The state does
allow local jurisdictions to set their own distance requirements,
Caloia said.

The reason for the advisory group's shorter distance recommendation is
because of Carbondale's relatively small geographic size. The 500-foot
limit is also what's required of liquor stores.

Other recommendations from the advisory group included: Allowing
individual medical marijuana patients to grow up to 12 plants in their
homes, and establishing a local licensing fee, revenues from which may
go into youth education efforts.

The recommendations will come back before the Town Council in the form
of a zoning code ordinance for formal consideration, likely next month.