AGNEW — A dozen neighbors gathered last week to protest a proposed recreational marijuana business in Agnew.
On Thursday, they stood in the rain along Old Olympic Highway holding signs objecting to Keith Lallone’s small, hyper-organic growing operation on a 5-acre parcel at 162 Linderman Road.
“These things just don’t belong in a residential area,” said Lonnie Jacobson, who lives about 600 feet from the site.
“They should be out in a remote farm area where they’re commercialized. They don’t need to put them here.”
State voters in 2012 legalized the possession and sale of recreational marijuana to adults 21 and older by passing Initiative 502. The state Liquor Control Board is in charge of regulating the industry.
Initially, Clallam County applied its existing code for pot, allowing entrepreneurs to grow and process cannabis in rural zones with a conditional-use permit.
In October, county commissioners clamped down on pot farms in rural neighborhoods like Agnew.
Lallone’s proposal is not subject to the tighter zoning restrictions because his application was submitted before the new rules took effect.
Hearing on Wednesday
A county hearing examiner will take public testimony on the Agnew proposal Wednesday.
The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
“It’s not something I want my kids exposed to on a regular basis,” said Wade Lauritzen, who home-schools his children downwind from the proposed business.
Protesters held signs with messages like “No Industrial Pot,” “Keep Our School Safe” and “No Pot Farm. Not Here!”
They shared concerns such as odors, traffic, lighting, crime, groundwater and diminished property values.
“This kind of thing does not belong in the community of Agnew,” Bobbie Jacobson said.
Charlie Spoerri, who recently moved to Agnew for its rural ambience, predicted the security lighting would be akin to living next to Yankee Stadium or a prison.
“You lose the stars,” Spoerri said.
“The lighting is going to flash through there like something out of an ET movie, where they’re in the forest and all of a sudden this light comes on.”
Said Lauritzen: “I just don’t want to see Concertina wire and little compounds dotting this valley.”
When reached by phone Saturday, Lallone said he was sympathetic to the protesters’ concerns.
Owner: Little impact
He countered their fears by saying the environmentally friendly business of two employees would have little or no impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
“I completely respect their objection to this,” he said of the protesters.
“It’s the way they feel.”
If anything, security cameras would deter crime, Lallone said.
He added that the 5-acre parcel is part of an out-of-the-way, 30-acre tract.
The state requires that marijuana businesses mitigate odors with filtration systems.
Licensed pot growers do not sell their product directly to the public. The cannabis is packaged and shipped to state-licensed retailers.
In a Nov. 26 memo, Clallam County Senior Planner Greg Ballard said Lallone plans to grow marijuana in a 2,700-square-foot greenhouse with a dual-layer covering.
The greenhouse would have a clear outer layer and a dark inner layer to keep the light inside.
An 8-foot-high solid wood or chain link-vinyl slat fence would surround the greenhouse and a 768-square-foot wood-framed structure where the product would be cut, dried and cured, Ballard wrote.
The application was filed with the state liquor board under the trade name AAA Bio-Dynamic.
The proposed business is considered a Tier 1, the smallest of three tiers of marijuana grows defined as having a canopy of 2,000 square feet or fewer.
Clallam County has previously issued conditional-use permits for marijuana grows as large as 15,000 square feet.
Fear of expansion
Several protesters feared the Agnew growing operation would expand if initially approved as a Tier 1.
“It’s the foot-in-the-door thing,” Lauritzen said.
Lallone said state law would prohibit such expansion. He said he has no plans to grow the business venture, which he views as an “interesting opportunity to break into small organic herb farming.”
“I feel for the people that oppose this,” said Lallone, who has lived in the Port Angeles area for 16 years.
“I understand how they feel, to some extent, but I think a lot of it is based on hysteria.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
