CITY TO CONSIDER FINAL APPROVAL OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA CAP,
RULES

Final adoption of the city's medical marijuana regulations - including
a proposed cap on the number of providers - is on the Bozeman City
Commission's agenda tonight.

Earlier this month, the commission voted to cap the number of medical
marijuana providers allowed in the city at 32 - one for every 1,250
residents - for one year while the city tries out its new rules on the
drug.

The city would also require providers with four or more patients to
have a city business license, and providers outside city limits would
need a license if they deliver to patients in Bozeman.

But medical marijuana advocates have asked the city to instead
establish separate licenses and requirements for cannabis storefronts,
growers and delivery services. That might allow more providers in the
city, but limit the number of visible storefronts and facilities.

The city has already received enough license applications to exceed
the proposed cap.

If the commission approves the rules tonight, they become final in 30
days.

The cap is part of an ordinance that outlines how medical marijuana
can be used, sold and grown in the city.

The rules would make it a misdemeanor for patients to use medical
marijuana in public; offenders could result in a $500 fine and up to
six months in jail. The rules also call for a 1,000-foot buffer
between schools and cannabis shops, city inspections of shops and
banning shops from opening on Main Street downtown.

Exiting rules prohibit already providers from operating out of
neighborhood homes and only allow growing operations on the outskirts
of town, in areas zoned residential suburban, where agricultural uses
are allowed.

In other business, the commission will:

- - Discuss the Historic Preservation Advisory Board's role, including
forming a "demolition-by-neglect" ordinance.

- - Discuss special revenue funds, such as proposed increases in street
assessments, in the city's $85.3 million recommended 2011 budget.

- - Hear a presentation from the Yellowstone Business Partnership on a
grant opportunity for sustainable communities.

- - Consider an easement, design contract and change order for sidewalk
infill along North Seventh Avenue.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 121 N. Rouse.

Meetings are televised live on Bresnan's channel 20.