PORT TOWNSEND — A public hearing on a proposed marijuana growing and processing operation on Marrowstone Island included hours of testimony against the operation by community members and island residents.
Stephen Causseaux, Jefferson County hearing examiner, heard testimony Tuesday from county officials and a crowd of community members about Austin Smith’s proposal for a greenhouse and marijuana processing operation on his property on Marrowstone.
The meeting was scheduled to be held in the commissioners’ chambers in the basement of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Port Townsend, but with over 80 community members in attendance, the public hearing was moved to the Superior Court to accommodate everyone.
A decision from Causseaux on the permits for Smith’s operation is expected within a week or so.
Smith is the owner of Olympus Gardens LLC, a Tier 3 marijuana processing operation based in Silverdale.
He submitted a request to the county in March for a cottage-industry permit and a conditional-use discretionary permit to build a 10,080-square-foot, 24-foot-tall greenhouse on his property at 9272 Flagler Road in Nordland.
This type of permit does not require a public hearing unless there are concerns and opposition from the community, said Patrick Hopper, the assistant planner for the Jefferson County Community Development Department.
More than 100 comments and concerns were submitted to the county in April, so a public hearing was set.
Hopper said that the most common concerns were contamination of local streams and ground water, the industrial size of the operation, light pollution, the effect the operation could have on surrounding property values and that the operation would not fit the Marrowstone Community Plan.
Kevin Coker, the project manager, represented Smith, who was present at the hearing but spoke very little. Coker addressed some of the concerns during a presentation at the beginning of the two-hour hearing.
“Marrowstone Island is a place that has been developed for agriculture, aquaculture and general land use since it was settled,” Coker said. “A greenhouse is in compliance and within the character of the surroundings.”
Coker said Smith had gone “far beyond what is required,” to mitigate smells, light pollution or chemical contamination that might occur during growing or processing of marijuana.
Coker said the proposal stipulates that Smith would have an 8-foot fence around the roughly 7-acre property as well as more trees to obscure the property.
The proposed plan includes such security measures as infrared cameras, which also would cut down on light pollution since they don’t need an additional light source, Coker said.
He said that Smith’s proposed hydroponic system has been approved by the state and that no chemicals are used in processing.
“Mr. Smith has done above and beyond for the local environment and to make this a sustainable business,” Coker said.
The property Smith’s proposed operation would occupy is currently zoned residential, and community members were concerned that the operation was too industrial to have a place in a residential area.
Glenn Dately, a Marrowstone resident, said since Smith has not confirmed that he will live on the property, and that the greenhouse is larger than the actual home situated on the property, it should not be eligible for a cottage-industry permit.
“It is not your typical ma-and-pa operation,” said Dately in his testimony, “and a residential neighborhood is not a place for it.”
Leah Simon of Port Townsend spoke in favor of Smith’s operation and said she felt he has been unfairly targeted because he is working with marijuana.
“Sometimes it’s like we’re re-litigating the legality of cannabis in this community,” Simon said. “If this can happen in his community, then why couldn’t it happen to me.”
Cheryl Brunette, a Marrowstone Island resident said: “This is a land use issue.
“We’re not opposing the growing or use of recreational marijuana in Jefferson County. I-502 was a mandate to legalize marijuana, not a mandate to jettison zoning laws.”
Voters approved Initiative 502 in 2012, legalizing the production, sale and recreational use of marijuana by adults in Washington state.
________
Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
