The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The Columbia County Commissioners will hold a public hearing during their regular September 3 meeting on a proposed ordinance to define zoning and other regulations for recreational marijuana in the unincorporated areas of Columbia County.

The new ordinance would identify zones within the county in which production, processing and sales of recreational marijuana would be allowed. It would also set standards for firms licensed to produce and sell recreational marijuana and it would define penalties, including criminal, for violation of the ordinance by marijuana firms.

The draft presented to the commissioners last week by county Planning Director Kim Lyonnais addressed only recreational marijuana, but the commissioners asked Lyonnais and Prosecuting Attorney Rea Culwell to develop separate language covering medical cannabis.

However, the hearing Tuesday will cover the recreational marijuana ordinance only. Culwell told The Times that a separate revision of existing ordinances, addressing medical cannabis will be presented at a later date. She said that the commissioners asked that medical cannabis operations in the county be subject to stricter oversight than they have been, including regular inspections.

Late last summer, the commissioners imposed a one-year moratorium on the establishment of marijuana businesses in unincorporated Columbia County. The moratorium runs out September 18, and the new ordinance is intended to go into effect prior to that date.

The commissioners have several options: they can adopt the proposed ordinance, adopt a revised ordinance, implement an outright ban on recreational marijuana or do nothing, and allow current zoning to cover marijuana businesses.

According to the draft ordinance presented last week, recreational marijuana production would be allowed as a conditional use in all agricultural and industrial zones in the county (including A-1, A-2, A-3, LI-1 and HI-1). Recreational marijuana processing and retail sales would be allowed as a conditional use only in industrial zones.

Recreational marijuana businesses would be subject to all state regulations, including 1,000 foot setbacks from schools, playgrounds, day care centers and libraries. The ordinance would also require that marijuana production facilities be either indoors or, if outdoors, "enclosed by a sight-obscuring wall or fence at least eight feet high. The physical barrier must be at least 100 feet from any neighboring residential dwelling unit."

During last week's meeting, the commissioners discussed the possibility of an outright ban on marijuana businesses in the county. Prosecutor Culwell told them that there are legal risks to cities and counties who ban marijuana businesses.

"Other counties who have banned marijuana businesses have been sued," Culwell said, by business owners who are otherwise approved by the state. In addition, she said, the legislature is likely to approve returning a portion of marijuana tax revenues back to cities and counties in the state. But those jurisdictions that ban marijuana businesses would probably lose out on receiving those funds.