CASTLE ROCK TURNS TO EMERGENCY ZONING RULES TO RESTRICT MARIJUANA GARDENS

CASTLE ROCK -- After learning they couldn't ban collective medical
marijuana gardens -- even for six months -- City Councilmembers
instead restricted where the gardens can be in an emergency vote
Monday night.

Starting July 22, collective gardens can be established in certain
areas near the two freeway exits - but only if all the application and
inspection requirements are met. City officials also noted the gardens
will be legal in all the other cities in the county on that date as
well, but without the zoning restrictions Castle Rock now requires.

"We're between a rock and hard place here," Mayor Paul Helenberg said
of not being able to ban or delay the gardens.

The council had hoped to enact a six-month moratorium on collective
gardens, saying city staff needed more time to prepare for the new
state law that allows group grows. The law goes into effect July 22.

The council had already taken a first vote on the moratorium.
Association of Washington Cities lawyers then said a moratorium isn't
legal because it conflicts with state law, city attorney Frank
Randolph told the council Monday. That meant that with no action,
anyone with a medical marijuana card could start a collective garden
anywhere they wanted in the city starting next week.

Instead, city staff drafted emergency zoning regulations restricting
collective gardens to two "highway business district" areas around the
two Interstate 5 exits to the town. Most of the land in both areas is
east of the interstate and is removed from the city's downtown and
residential core.

The emergency zoning regulations -- which are good for six months --
also include several restrictions, including limiting only one
collective garden per land parcel, requiring locking fences on all
outdoor grows and requiring an application and official building
inspection before a garden can be started. Patients with medical
marijuana cards also can only belong to one collective garden at a
time, and the gardens must keep membership lists for three years.
Outdoor gardens must not be able to be seen from any public place.

When some residents and Councilman Mike Mask questioned how the city
could approve applications for what is still illegal under federal
law, Randolph said it's a tricky issue.

Medical marijuana patients already can grow their own plants under
existing state law, and the new state law allows for the collective
gardens as long as they are limited to 10 patients and no more than 45
plants.

In theory, there is still the threat of federal prosecution, but right
now, federal officials appear to be leaving cities alone as long as
they're not seen as profiting from gardens by taxing them, Randolph
said.

"It's better to try and do something to control it rather than just
allowing a Wild West free-for-all," Randolph said.

"If (federal officials) crack down on this, then the governor should
be arrested, too, and all the people in the Legislature that passed
this," Helenberg added.

What's needed, Randolph and some councilmen said, is for the state to
change the law to allow individual cities and counties to ban the
gardens outright -- as was done in Colorado.

For now, though, the new zoning regulations are the law of the land in
Castle Rock, passing on a 4 to 1 vote with Mask the lone no vote.

A public hearing -- required because the council took emergency action
so the zoning regulations went into effect immediately -- will be July
27.

Randolph said applications can be picked up at City Hall starting
today, though he had no estimate on how long it would take to process
the forms and inspect any proposed gardens.

"No one has any experience with this yet," he said.