Marijuana Dispensaries Go Up in Smoke

The Greeley City Council voted 6-1 in favor of not allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in Greeley.

This ordinance specifically prohibits dispensaries to be established as an allowed land use under the development code. This action does not prevent individual patients from cultivating or using medical marijuana in the city, nor does it hinder in the delivery of medical marijuana to patients in the city by care-givers who operate dispensaries outside of Greeley or the ability of groups of patients to collectively cultivate marijuana for medicinal purposes, as long as these activities are in compliance with state law.

At-large council member, Carrol Martin was the only member on the council to disagree with the ordinance.

“I don’t believe that marijuana should be legalized…yet, if we do allow this, then it should be highly regulated, and if we required everyone to register then there is less of a chance for it to be sold to kids,” Martin said.

While mayor Ed Clark disagreed with Martin’s regulation ideas.

“We already do regulate it, by not allowing it into the community,” Clark said.

As of right now, cities do not have the direction on how to deal with this law or how to enforce it. Under Colorado law, medical marijuana may be cultivated and consumed by people with a doctor’s prescription as a treatment for several chronic ailments including muscle and nerve disorders, glaucoma, wasting disease and the side effects of chemotherapy.

Construction Fees Denied

The continuation of the final reading of an ordinance that established development fees for public improvements, facilities and equipment for trails, drainage and transportation services was met with a resounding no at the Greeley City Council meeting Tuesday night.
The council denied the proposal after listening to several members of the community. The council members felt that with the current economy, now was not the right time to be raising fees. The board’s collective mindset was pro-business, but they did not support the raise in fees.
Some council members were in favor of looking at this issue 18 months from now. The council is also willing to be patient and wait for the economy to stabilize and will wait for another business to popup within the community.
In 2007, a study of the transportation, drainage and trail impact fees was completed. The fees are then charged to the new development with the revenue generated to be used to build a new infrastructure to support the development.
The plan was developed as an option to boost the construction development fees over a five year period, while residential fees would essentially remain the same as current fees. Depending on location within the city, commercial and retail businesses would have had decreases in overall fees.