COMMISSIONERS PLACE MORATORIUM ON DISPENSARIES

County Land Use Code Needs Revisions

Last week, San Miguel County commissioners placed a temporary
moratorium on the licensing of medicinal cannabis dispensaries in
unincorporated areas for up to six months.

The board, somewhat reluctantly, chose to do so because the county
has nothing in its land use code when it comes to businesses selling
and dispensing medical marijuana.

The county also placed the moratorium to track the progress of House
Bill 10-1284 in Colorado Legislature that would outline how the
state licenses dispensaries.

"If HB 10-1284 passes, it would create a licensing process similar
to that which regulates liquor licenses," said San Miguel County
Planning Director Mike Rozycki in a press release. "The moratorium
also gives us the time we need to see what our state laws are going to be."

The Colorado Legislature is expected to pass HB 10-1284 sometime
before this year's session ends on May 12. The bill has been amended
and changed numerous times as it has bounced between the House and
Senate. Once approved it will be sent to Governor Bill Ritter.

"We want to know what it is and address it at a local level before
there are a lot of dispensaries," Rozycki said in an interview Wednesday.

The moratorium will be as long as six months, until Oct. 31, but
could end sooner if legislation is signed into law and the county's
planning department can draft land use code revisions once they have
a clear understanding of what the house bill will require.

"We don't want to see it go on any longer than is necessary," Rozycki said.

"We're not trying to keep people from selling medical cannabis,"
County Commissioner Joan May said. "Since medical cannabis is not
addressed in our code we have to figure out a way to address it."

In the past year, towns and counties throughout Colorado have
enacted temporary moratoriums on dispensaries as they have tried to
update their land use codes after the Obama administration announced
it wouldn't prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries operating
within state laws.

"San Miguel County didn't initially do this because we didn't have
many areas where there would be potential for dispensaries," Rozycki
said. "We have limited areas where we have retail sales."

The Telluride town council placed a six-month moratorium in October
2009 to address the same issue and allow time to outline regulations
of dispensaries in town.

According to Rozycki, the county hasn't permitted any dispensaries
yet, but he believes there are several getting ready to open.