AVON EXPLORES DISPENSARY BAN

Council give preliminary approval to ban on medical marijuana
dispensaries

AVON, Colo. -- The town of Avon could be the next Eagle County
municipality to ban medical marijuana businesses.

The Avon Town Council voted in favor of an ordinance Tuesday that
would prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries in town, but would also
permit medical marijuana possession and use by legal medical marijuana
patients. It was the first reading of the ordinance.

The public has two upcoming chances to comment on the proposed law, at
the town's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting next week and again
at the Avon Town Council meeting July 27.

Avon's Planning and Zoning Commission also needs to approve the
ordinance because it would amend zoning laws within the Avon Municipal
Code, according to a memo to the council from Town Attorney Eric Heil.

The ordinance would add a lot of specific language to the town's laws
in order to prevent any loopholes, Heil said.

"We're saying a lot of things very deliberately so we have no
vagueness about what is being required," Heil said.

The ordinance would prohibit medical marijuana-related businesses, as
well as "any use of property for cultivation, manufacture, storage,
distribution, acquisition or sale of marijuana, whether for profit or
not-for-profit," the memo said.

Language prohibiting the businesses would appear in sections of the
town code everywhere from business registration to offenses against
public peace to zone districts. Language in the town code would also
state that all land uses within the town have to comply with local,
state and federal laws.

The Avon Town Council voted 4 to 1 on the first reading of the
ordinance, with Councilman Dave Dantas dissenting. Councilman Buz
Reynolds wasn't there for the vote.

Dantas asked Heil about state laws concerning medical marijuana
dispensaries and what kinds of requirements the town could impose
should it choose to allow the businesses.

Heil said the town could restrict zoning, distances between the
businesses, signs and storefront designs or require minimum amounts of
security, among other restrictions.