PORT ANGELES — After weeks of discussion and hours of testimony from concerned rural residents, Clallam County has tightened restrictions on the recreational marijuana industry.
A six-month ordinance approved unanimously by the three commissioners Tuesday will keep new growing and processing operations out of medium- and high-density rural neighborhoods.
Temporary zoning will provide more certainty for proponents of the legalized pot industry and those concerned about a marijuana grow operation moving in next door, county officials said.
“I’m happy for those on both sides of the issue,” said Sheila Roark Miller, Clallam County community development director.
Since recreational marijuana became legal in Washington, Clallam County has applied its current code for pot, allowing entrepreneurs to grow and process cannabis in rural zones with a conditional-use permit.
The new ordinance, which takes effect Oct. 17, further restricts growers and processors.
It requires at least 15 acres of contiguous ownership, a 200-foot setback and a business owner who lives on the property.
County staff had originally proposed a 100-foot setback based on Mason County standards and a minimum 10 acres of contiguous ownership, Roark Miller said.
The county Planning Commission voted 7-0 last Wednesday to keep pot businesses out of rural areas, but did not object to allowing grows in industrial and most commercial zones.
In an effort to secure two yes votes from commissioners, staff further revised the ordinance to allow small- and medium-sized grows on 15-acre rural parcels and incorporated Commissioner Jim McEntire’s request to add large grows as a conditional use on big farms in agricultural retention zones.
“We think staff did an excellent job in crafting this,” Roark Miller told commissioners.
“It took a lot of leadership skill to be able to craft an ordinance that we could get two votes on from the Board of County Commissioners,” she added in a later interview.
“With the skills of staff and insistence of the Planning Commission and the public we were able to get something before the Board of County Commissioners that can serve as an interim ordinance.”
Given a choice between the status quo and the revised ordinance, Planning Commission member Tom Montgomery said he preferred the latter.
Speaking as one member of the land-use advisory panel, Montgomery told commissioners that the 15-acre requirement in the compromised ordinance “by itself takes off the board thousands and thousands of residential parcels in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley and elsewhere.”
“So I think it’s far preferable to our existing policy, and I urge you to support it,” Montgomery said.
Commissioner Mike Doherty voted for the ordinance only after being assured there were two other yes votes.
“It’s not my first choice, and I share the concerns of the Planning Commission member who spoke yesterday and today, but I think to get something in place is better than nothing, for sure,” Doherty said.
Doherty urged DCD staff and the Planning Commission to work quickly to develop a permanent ordinance that protects neighborhood interests.
He has repeatedly criticized Roark Miller, saying she was stalling on the marijuana issue.
“We’ve known, again, for over two years that this was coming,” Doherty said, referring to polling data that suggested state Initiative 502 would pass in 2012.
“I think DCD should have been active on this instead of rather laissez faire about it.”
Doherty has called for a marijuana moratorium with exceptions.
“It just seems like expanding an industrial park or finding an isolated timberland or some ag (agricultural land) that could have been converted, we could have done this,” said Doherty, a Port Angeles Democrat who is not seeking reelection this year.
“And actually it has some business incentives for these businesses to co-locate, to bring down some of their costs and not disturb neighborhoods so much.
“So it’s too late to put the ketchup back in the jar, but I think there’s a need for something.”
“So reluctantly I support this.”
McEntire supported an earlier version of the interim ordinance, which died Sept. 23 for a lack of a second, and moved to adopt the revised ordinance Tuesday.
Commissioner Mike Chapman voted yes on the compromise, saying: “It’s the right thing to do.”
Eight prospective marijuana business owners who have already applied for a conditional-use permit are vested under existing policy.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
