CITIES, TOWNS EXTENDING MORATORIUMS ON DISPENSARIES

LONGMONT -- Longmont extended its moratorium on medical marijuana
dispensaries for a year.

Firestone likely will extend its moratorium for a year.

Frederick extended its for another six months.

And Dacono put its first moratorium into place last week after
originally allowing dispensaries to apply for a special-use permit.

Cities, towns and counties across Colorado were waiting on the state
Legislature to better understand how they should move forward with
local licensing and zoning regulations for dispensaries.

And now that state lawmakers have passed House Bill 1284, local
officials are ... still waiting.

When the Longmont City Council voted last week to extend its current
dispensary moratorium until June 30, 2011, city attorney Eugene Mei
said it didn't make sense for Longmont to enact local regulations
only to change them when the Department of Revenue comes up with its
own licensing rules.

Instead, the City Council will have to decide whether it wants to
allow dispensaries and regulate them with local zoning and permitting
rules -- or ban them entirely. Or give the decision to voters.

Firestone planning coordinator Rebecca Toberman said the town has no
dispensaries. The town's current moratorium is in effect until July
12, but given the uncertainty with the state law, the Firestone
trustees last week said they would like to extend the moratorium,
town manager Wes LaVanchy said.

Toberman said she gets several calls a week -- sometimes three a day
- -- from people wanting information about opening dispensaries.

The same is happening next door in Frederick, planning director
Jennifer Simmons said.

"It ebbs and flows, but when we get the calls, it seems like three or
four a day, then it will drop off," she said.

The Frederick Town Board of Trustees voted unanimously last week to
extend its moratorium for six months; the extension is effective June
6, she said. Frederick also has no dispensaries, Simmons said.

Dacono was in a different position because the City Council
originally voted last fall to create local regulations for
dispensaries.

"We don't want them in our community; I don't know anybody that wants
in them in their community," Dacono Mayor Charles Sigman said. "On
the other hand, we didn't want to open ourselves to a lawsuit or
violate people's state constitutional rights, either."

Two dispensaries opened in Dacono before the city created its
regulations, he said. A third -- MaryJanes -- applied for the city's
special-use permit, and the City Council had to approve it because it
met the city's zoning regulations, Sigman said. The council approved
the permit earlier this month.

"We did what we thought was best until we knew what the state was
going to do," Sigman said.

But after the state passed HB 1284, the Dacono City Council voted
unanimously last week to enact a six-month moratorium on new
dispensaries.

"Now we have a leg to stand on," Sigman said. "Now that the state's
moving forward, let's go ahead and put our moratorium in place see
how things play out."

Lyons also has a moratorium in place. The Lyons Town Board of
Trustees is scheduled to discuss medical marijuana issues during its
June 7 meeting.