PORT TOWNSEND — One county commissioner said he favors letting a marijuana moratorium expire, while the other two remained undecided after a public hearing on a proposed extension of the ban.
The proposed four-month extension of a moratorium on recreational marijuana businesses in unincorporated Jefferson County drew passionate testimony from people on both sides of the issue.
Testimony from Monday night’s public hearing will feed the county commissioners’ discussion and final action on the moratorium at 10 a.m. Feb. 2 in commissioners’ chambers at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Washington St.
The county Department of Community Development has recommended extending the moratorium to June 11 in one of two ways: without change or with an exemption for parcels larger than 5 acres in certain zones.
Commissioners can choose to allow the moratorium to expire Feb. 11, a position that District 2 Commissioner David Sullivan said he now supports.
“Most of the impacts that people are worried about are covered in our existing regulations,” he said Tuesday.
“The main concern is that kids are safe, but there is a lot of misplaced fear that kids will somehow ingest the marijuana from a legal grow operation,” he continued.
“I think that our existing building covenants and regulations cover all the questions.”
After the meeting, District 1 Commissioner Phil Johnson and District 3 Commissioner Kathleen Kler said they had not made up their minds.
Johnson said he would like to investigate claims about a high incidence of explosions in marijuana facilities.
Kler said the hearing served an unintended purpose.
“I was pleased to see how civil the hearing was, and I was encouraged to see people from opposite sides talking to each other after the hearing in small groups,” Kler said.
“They were sharing information and trying to address each other’s concerns.”
About 85 people attended the hearing at the Cotton Building.
Of those, 42 people commented, with 25 favoring extending the moratorium and 17 advocating its expiration.
Soon after the approval of statewide Initiative 502 in November 2012, Jefferson County designated marijuana as a standard agricultural project but changed that position after a series of public protests, and established the current six-month moratorium Aug. 11.
“I believe fear and misconception is behind opposition to rural residential legal cannabis businesses,” said Tami Mendonca of Port Townsend during the hearing Monday night, “fear that is based on the unknown and misconceptions about past illegal marijuana operations that have no government regulation or oversight.
“To make your decisions based on fear is wrong. You need to make a decision based on facts, not fear.”
Peter Davis of Port Townsend argued for taking more time “to consider residential zones and the proximity to be established between marijuana facilities and residential neighborhoods.
“Rather than Jefferson County getting the reputation as an ‘easy’ county in which to operate marijuana businesses in a fairly unregulated manner, let’s instead set a goal of how it should be done with and get it right,” he continued.
“If we fail, the continued dissension in our county will serve as a cancer, impacting neighborhoods, pitting residents against business and ultimately resulting in the destruction of our way of life in Jefferson County.”
Some said a failure to extend the moratorium could endanger children.
“I have some property where I want to build the house of my dreams for my family,” said Jeremiah Van Ness of Port Townsend, who purchased land in Chimacum adjacent to a proposed marijuana growing operation.
“It’s mind-blowing, and it crushes my family [to have an operation next door] and it kills me to think that my kids’ friends’ parents won’t want their children coming to our house when there is a grow operation right down the road,” Van Ness said.
Others feared that extending the moratorium would cause people to lose their investments.
“There are about a dozen 502 business owners who have been discriminated against by this moratorium,” said Colum Tinley of Port Townsend.
“A four-month extension of the moratorium will absolutely kill those farmers.
“They will be unable to get plants in the ground for the summer’s crop because the Jefferson County obstruction will collectively cause a loss of about $36 million.”
Tinley said this could prompt legal action against the county.
Said Roger Short of Chimacum: “There are going to be lawsuits on both sides.”
Karen Page of Chimacum, whose multiple appearances during the commissioners’ regular meetings started the discussion that led to the moratorium, called for an extension of the ban while saying the system works.
“When I got involved in this months ago, this was what I hoped would actually happen: to get the Planning Commission involved and to get the citizenry involved and get a chance to be heard and listened to,” Page said.
“I appreciate the fact this is happening tonight, and I’d like to encourage this process to continue.”
On Jan. 14, the county Planning Commission created a subcommittee to develop a report about the issue, according to Kevin Coker, the commission’s chair, who attended the hearing.
“It’s up to the county commissioners to decide whether the Planning Commission is going to further address this issue,” he said.
“If they don’t extend the moratorium, there will be nothing for us to do.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.