CITY COUNCIL TO ADDRESS NEW POT RULES

One of the most controversial issues before the Billings City Council
in years returns Monday night for another vote. The council is set to
discuss new rules on where medical-marijuana businesses can operate
and will ask the city Zoning Commission to take over the process for
now.

The council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at City
Hall, 220 N. 27th St.

By May, the city had issued nearly 80 business licenses for
medical-marijuana businesses, which caused uproar among those opposed
to medical marijuana. In May, the council approved a six-month
moratorium on new medical-marijuana businesses while it figured out
how to regulate them.

Zoning rules are the city's biggest tool in controlling
medical-marijuana businesses, so the council set up an ad hoc
committee to look at ways to zone the businesses. The committee
finished its work in July and presented its recommendation to the
council later that month.

The committee recommended allowing medical-marijuana businesses in
only a few industrial parts of the city and requiring special reviews
in some cases before the businesses could open. The committee also
recommended that signage be restricted, and that existing businesses
be given four years to comply with any new rules that are passed.

The council tonight won't be voting on new zoning rules and won't hold
a public hearing on the matter. Instead, council members will decide
what kind of new zoning rules they want for medical marijuana, and
will ask the city Zoning Commission and city staff to prepare the new
rules for the council to approve.

The council isn't bound to follow the findings of the ad hoc
committee. The council could ask the Zoning Commission to consider the
committee's recommendation, or it could ask the commission to prepare
an outright ban on medical-marijuana businesses in the city. The
council could also seek an extension of the moratorium, which expires
in November.

Once the council decides what kind of new zoning rules it wants, city
staffers will draft the rules and the Zoning Commission will hold a
public hearing and vote on them before sending them back to the council.

The Zoning Commission will do its work in September, and the council
will vote on the new rules at the end of September.

The council will also consider a 1-mill levy request for the Planning
Division. Last month, Yellowstone County commissioners decided not to
place a mill levy increase for the Planning Division on the ballot
this fall, despite significant support from the City Council. The city
and county share the Planning Division, but much of its work is inside
city limits.

Now, council members want to bypass the commissioners and place the
mill-levy increase only on city ballots. If the council approves the
resolution tonight and voters approve it in the fall, the city's
charter will be amended to include a permanent 1-mill levy for
planning services. One mill would raise an additional $159,000 a year
for planning services in the city.

The owner of a $200,000 home in the city would see a tax increase of
about $2.82 a year, for a total of $6.26 a year in taxes paid toward
planning services.