DISPENSARY DETAILS REVIEWED AND GROWING FACILITY DISTANCE REQUIREMENT
MAY BE REDUCED

With time winding down until the town's moratorium on medical
marijuana dispensaries expires, the Windsor Town Board took another
look at their 26-page ordinance to regulate the industry last Monday
night in a work session.

"At this point, you have no more work session time scheduled for this
issue," said Windsor Town Manager Kelly Arnold during the session.

The ordinance is scheduled to go to the Windsor Planning Commission
for review on July 1. If the commission has no problems with it, the
ordinance will be forwarded back to the town board with a
recommendation for approval on July 12. A second reading will be held
July 26.

The previous town board had begun discussion about a medical marijuana
dispensary ordinance in December 2009 but decided to halt the
conversation earlier this year until newly-elected town board members
had been seated in April.

Since then, the board has had three prior work sessions on the
topic.

One of the issues they tackled was the location requirement for
cultivation facilities in the town. Because of the state's law, HB
1284, dispensary owners are now required to grow 70 percent of their
own product, meaning the two dispensaries in Windsor will now need to
find locations for their grow facilities.

The problem, according to Windsor Town Attorney Ian McCargar, is that
because of the town's strict requirements, cultivation facilities have
been effectively zoned out of town.

"We need to either adjust the distances or adjust the way we measure
those distances," McCargar said.

In the ordinance originally, the town called for a 1,000-foot buffer
from cultivation facilities for childcare facilities, schools,
recreation centers and other centers for youth activities, public
parks and trails and churches.

"We went out to look for a place to serve as a facility," said Derek
Cumings, the co-owner of In Harmony Wellness, one of two facilities
operating legally in town. "What we found was that our options were
almost non-existent."

McCargar said that although the regulations were not designed to be
that restrictive, they could pose an unreasonable burden.

"We have set our dispensaries up to fail," he said.

Board member Robert Bishop-Cotner reminded his colleagues they knew
they might have to modify their ordinance.

"Remember, we're going to make mistakes," Bishop-Cotner
said.

Cumings told the board the state's new regulations were creating a
time crunch for him and other dispensary owners.

"We need to make sure we're good with the town, adhering to
regulations and requirements, by July 1," he said.

Windsor Mayor John Vazquez suggested dropping the distance requirement
to 500 feet. Board members Jon Slater and Bishop-Cotner agreed with
that, while Kristie Melendez and Mike Carrigan were still a little
uneasy.

Another topic the board spent time on was the possible addition of an
excise tax to dispensaries.

"It's an extraordinary business with a lot of regulation and time
required," Arnold said. "From that perspective, I have no problem
suggesting an excise tax."

Cumings asked the board to reconsider.

"I don't want to have to go to my patients and tell them I now have to
raise their prices to pass on the excise tax," he said.

Bishop-Cotner said he sympathized.

"But this is a difficult issue, and it's one that has continued to get
bigger and bigger," he said.

McCargar said he could work on a question that would be referred to
the voters on the November ballot.