PORT TOWNSEND — The three Jefferson County commissioners have postponed implementing new marijuana business guidelines to June 8 because a commissioner will be absent Monday and a split vote is expected.
The June 8 meeting is set to begin at 9 a.m. in commissioners’ chambers at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Washington St.
At a May 21 meeting, Commissioners Phil Johnson and Kathleen Kler voted in favor of the new rules that break down allowable locales by type and location.
But Commissioner David Sullivan opposed them.
Johnson won’t attend Monday’s meeting because of a commitment in Seattle.
The impetus for the action is a 10-month-long moratorium on new marijuana businesses that is set to expire June 11.
Approval of the rules is not a sure thing, as several options could occur, County Administrator Philip Morley said.
The commissioners could extend the moratorium to allow further study.
Or they could simply allow it to lapse, he said.
Any substantial changes to the rules would require a public hearing that could be accomplished either within or outside of a moratorium period.
Sullivan said Friday he still plans to oppose implementation of the rules, instead favoring expiration of the moratorium without their enactment.
“We should have rules that deal with the larger impacts of all agriculture rather than dealing with marijuana separately,” he said.
“I think that the existing code, which has been in place for years, addresses all of the concerns.”
Should Sullivan persuade Johnson or Kler to switch positions, the outcome will be different.
Johnson said Friday he wants to pass the rules “to get this over with.”
Kler has not indicated she will change her vote, but both she and Sullivan have said they wished it were done differently.
Sullivan said a more encompassing code should have been developed earlier, while Kler lamented that the involved parties didn’t communicate.
Morley said Johnson has an appointment in Seattle on Monday and could phone in his vote, but such connections are not reliable.
Without Johnson’s vote, there would be a deadlock, Morley said.
After the approval of statewide Initiative 502 legalizing recreational marijuana in 2012, Jefferson County originally dealt with cannabis like any other agricultural product.
But public controversy led to the institution of a six-month moratorium Aug. 11.
When that moratorium was set to expire, the Department of Community Development requested a four-month extension because it had not developed a policy.
Since the moratorium extension, the Planning Commission has drafted guidelines for where pot businesses can operate in the county, creating separate matrixes for the county at large and the Port Hadlock Urban Growth Area.
That plan was presented to the commissioners May 21.
The recommendations will be translated into an ordinance for consideration at the June 8 meeting, Morley said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
