EL JEBEL MAY NOT GET MEDICINAL POT

Eagle County Has Enacted Temporary Land-use Regulations Dictating
Where The Dispensaries Can Set Up Shop

EL JEBEL, Colorado -- Eagle County zoning regulations may keep a
medical marijuana dispensary from cropping up in El Jebel.

The county has enacted temporary land-use regulations dictating where
the dispensaries can set up shop in commercial and industrial zones,
and the Roaring Fork Valley Regional Planning Commission voted
Thursday in El Jebel to recommend county commissioners stiffen those
rules.

Either way, it doesn't appear the rules would accommodate a
dispensary in the sliver of Eagle County that extends into the El
Jebel area, said town planner Bob Narracci.

"There'll be plenty in the valley. We don't have to worry about it,"
said commission member Temple Glassier, acknowledging the growing
proliferation of dispensaries from Aspen to Glenwood Springs. The
closest dispensary to El Jebel is at the WIN Institute, just up
Highway 82 in west Basalt.

Eagle County is in the process of coming up with detailed land-use
regulations for dispensaries in unincorporated portions of the
county; the temporary regulations are currently set to expire in
March. While there is no dispensary in the piece of the county that
extends into the Roaring Fork Valley, there are already several in
unincorporated areas on the Eagle side of the county, Narracci noted.

The planning commission serving the Eagle side met Wednesday; some
members expressed interest in shutting the dispensaries out of the
unincorporated areas altogether, but were advised that, legally, the
operations have to be permitted somewhere, Narracci said.

The rules don't have to recognize the geographical split in the
county and accommodate a dispensary in El Jebel, though, he said.

"There just has to be somewhere in unincorporated Eagle County where
they can occur," Narracci said.

Eagle County's temporary rules prohibit dispensaries from locating
within 200 feet of residences, churches and publicly owned community
buildings, among other facilities, or within 500 feet of a school,
playground, park or child-care facility.

The Roaring Fork commission recommended the county adopt a 500-foot
measure for everything. The Eagle commission made the same
recommendation, Narracci said. The Roaring Fork group also
recommended the dispensaries not be allowed in industrial zones, only
commercial ones.

It appears there is no commercially zoned land in El Jebel that would
meet the criteria with the 500-foot zone, and probably not with the
200-foot-limit either, according to Narracci.

County commissioners are expected to take up the recommendations next
week.

The county has also adopted temporary rules prohibiting third-party
growers from cultivating marijuana to supply dispensaries. Only
caregivers and patients are allowed to grow medical marijuana in the
county, as allowed by the state.

"We've been getting calls from parties who want to operate
large-scale, greenhouse growing operations," Narracci said.

The Roaring Fork commission tabled discussion of the full-blown
regulations the county has drafted, figuring the rules will continue
to change as the state government tries to get a handle on the
burgeoning industry.

"I'm going to have a hard time wrestling with this until the state
says, ‘We're going to regulate this properly,'" said commission
member Matt Flink.

Citizen e-mails on the topic, Flink noted, are running 25-to-1
against allowing the dispensaries in unincorporated Eagle County.