PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners heard Monday a recommendation to extend a temporary ordinance to regulate the recreational marijuana industry in unincorporated areas.
The Clallam County Planning Commission needs more time to solidify a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners, Principal Planner Kevin LoPiccolo said Monday.
Commissioners took no vote during Monday’s work session on a six-month extension of the ordinance, which is set to expire April 7.
They will consider an extension after a public hearing at the commissioners’ March 24 meeting.
Commissioners last October approved a six-month ordinance that restricted marijuana growing and processing operations from most rural neighborhoods.
Growers and processors are still allowed to operate in commercial and industrial zones and on some large parcels.
The nine-member Planning Commission is developing a recommendation for permanent zoning for pot.
It has held seven work sessions to identify appropriate zones for cannabis farms under voter-approved state Initiative 502.
“I think the planning commission has made pretty good progress,” Planning Manager and Deputy Community Development Director Steve Gray told commissioners Monday.
“They’ve really narrowed down the zones that they support and a few zones that they still need to work through.”
The Planning Commission has studied potential impacts of marijuana facilities, including security concerns and diminished property values, LoPiccolo said.
Last month, five members of the Planning Commission identified commercial forests as an appropriate zone for marijuana grows.
State voters approved the possession and sale of up to 1 ounce of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older by approving the landmark initiative in 2012.
Fifty-five percent of Clallam County voters supported Initiative 502 in the election.
Initially, Clallam County required business owners to obtain a conditional-use permit from a hearing examiner but had no specific restrictions for marijuana beyond state law.
Scores of concerned residents have complained in hearings, board meetings and Planning Commission work sessions that the marijuana facilities would mar their rural neighborhoods.
Proponents have said cannabis grow-ops are clean, quiet and provide jobs.
Clallam County’s temporary ordinance requires a 15-acre-minimum parcel size and a 200-foot setback for low-density areas.
Few applications have been filed since the ordinance took effect.
One growing and processing operation recently opened in the Carlsborg Industrial Park, Gray said.
Two marijuana business licence applications are pending with the state Liquor Control Board, which is tasked with regulating the industry.
As the Planning Commission grapples with recreational marijuana law, it is simultaneously updating the county’s shoreline plan.
Despite the workload, LoPiccolo predicted that a draft ordinance for marijuana will be ready “way before” a six-month extension on temporary zoning expires.
The Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners will each hold public hearings before permanent zoning for marijuana is codified.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
