« back

Hotchkiss Council Places Commercial Marijuana Questions on April 5 Ballot

February 4th, 2016

Filed under Community, Featured, Hotchkiss, News

Hockenbery, Mary flowers 2014-WEB

Mary Hockenbery, the “Flower Lady” wasthemover behind getting the commercial marijuana question placed on the April 5 Hotchkiss municipal ballot.  She is also a candidate for Town Trustee and owner of the Church of Art. 

 

Hotchkiss Council Places Commercial Marijuana Questions on April 5 Ballot

By Thomas Wills

BALLOT ISSUE 1

BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2017, SHALL MEDICAL MARIJUANA CENTERS, OPTIONAL PREMISES CULTIVATION OPERATIONS AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA INFUSED PRODUCTS MANAFACTURERS BE PERMITTED WITHIN THE TOWN OF HOTCHKISS, SUBJECT TO COLORADO LAW AND SUCH ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS AS MAY BE ADOPTED BY THE TOWN OF HOTCHKISS BOARD OF TRUSTEES?

BALLOT ISSUE 2

BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2017, SHALL (RECREATIONAL) MARIJUANA FACILITIES, INCLUDING MARIJUANA CULTIVATION FACILITIES, MARIJUANA RETAIL SALES FACILITIES, MARIJUANA MANUFACTURING FACILITIES AND MARIJUANA TESTING FACILITIES BE PERMITTED WITHIN THE TOWN OF HOTCHKISS, SUBJECT TO THE COLORADO RETAIL MARIJUANA CODE AND SUCH ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS AS MAY BE ADOPTED BY THE TOWN OF HOTCHKISS BOARD OF TRUSTEES?

BALLOT ISSUE 3

SHALL THE TOWN OF HOTCHKISS TAXES BE INCREASED BY $100,000 DOLLARS IN THE FIRST FULL FISCAL YEAR AND BY SUCH AMOUNTS AS ARE RAISED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER BY IMPOSING AN ADDITIONAL SALES TAX OF 2% ON THE SALE OF RETAIL AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND RETAIL AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA PRODUCTS, WITH THE RATE OF SUCH TAX BEING ALLOWED TO BE DECREASED OR INCREASED WITHOUT FURTHER VOTER APPROVAL SO LONG AS THE RATE  DOES NOT EXCEED 10%, ONLY IN THE EVEN THAT SUCH FACILITIES ARE PERMITTED IN THE TOWN OF HOTCHKISS… ?

Should Hotchkiss become the first Town in Delta County to get a share of the booming Colorado commercial cannabis business?  At their January 14 meeting, the Hotchkiss Town Council voted 4-0-1 to allow the residents of Hotchkiss to decide that question on the April 5 municipal election ballot. The council vote turned out to be choice between placing the question on the municipal ballot or facing the prospect of having a voter initiated special election later at at-least five times the cost of the regular election, which will be happening anyway since it appears that there will be a highly contested election for the four available trustee seats. Trustee Jim Roberts declined to vote on the question.

Town attorney, Bo Nerlin, who had been a councilmember in Ridgeway until April 2015, which has multiple commercial marijuana stores, asked that the council have a work session to fine tune the language and to craft a second question asking if the voters wished to place a specific excise tax on the sale of marijuana and marijuana infused products. This would be a TABOR required question. The organizers’ original thought was to have the Town place the tax question on the November general election ballot if the April question was approved by voters.  At the January 20 special meeting the trustees approved three separate ballot questions (printed above) asking if the voters wanted to approve “medical” marijuana businesses, recreational marijuana businesses and if the answer to either of the first two question was yes should an additional special sales tax, on top of the Town’s current two percent tax, be places on the sale of marijuana products?

Former Hotchkiss Planning Commission chairman, community beautification activist, artist/photographer, 2013 Citizen of the Year, and art gallery owner (and possible Trustee candidate, she has taken out a candidate petition), Mary Hockenbery, is the main force behind placing the question before the Town’s voters. She presented a petition with 32 Hotchkiss residents’ signatures at the January 14 meeting. Hockenbery stresses that she has no personal interest in entering the commercial cannabis business and her main reason for advancing the question is in enhancing the Hotchkiss commercial sector’s viability.

One of the main reasons Hockenbery and others think commercial cannabis would benefit Hotchkiss is tourism and how having the products available locally would fit as a positive piece of the growing Valley agri-tourism sector. She points out that many tourists are now coming to Colorado specifically because cannabis is commercially available, like alcohol, to all adults over the age of 21. Many tourists are also coming to the North Fork to sample the local wines, fruit, produce and culinary offerings. Among the side effects of cannabis is the well-known heightening of taste and enjoyment of food. So, having a commercial cannabis source available to visitors benefiting local tax revenues at a time when other revenue sources, such as mineral severance tax sharing is declining, would seem a good fit.  Hotchkiss has the advantage of being centrally located in the most heavily agricultural part of the Valley at the crossroads of Highway 92 and 133.

A second argument for passage of the question, in addition to collecting new tax and licensing revenues, is that allowing the new businesses would create new local jobs. According to locals in the know about the industry the most jobs would probably come from commercial growing if established. A shop would also provide retail service jobs as would a commercial kitchen for producing edibles.

According to other Town’s experiences, other businesses in the communities generally benefited from the increased number of visitors attracted by the commercial cannabis stores. Despite fears that commercial legalization would result in increased law enforcement costs no such significant impacts have been reported. Hockenbery points out that besides the tourism boost, allowing other aspects of the industry such as commercial growing facilities will create new local jobs at a time when they are needed.

At the January 14 meeting council candidate, John Marta, and his wife Billie spoke against placing the measure on the ballot saying that the voters had already said they didn’t want marijuana. Mr. Marta was particularly concerned that the commercial businesses would bring a “bad element” to the town. While there had been no Town vote on the commercial question the November 2012 general cannabis legalization measure failed in Hotchkiss but passed in the North Fork as a whole. Since that time personal growing within the town has greatly increased.

HHS principal, Paul Rodriguez, also expressed concerns as did K-8 principal, Carrie Yantzer. Business owners Pat Medina and Lynda Cannon spoke in favor of the ballot measure citing general benefits to other businesses in the town.  Several other supporters of the measure were also present.

At the January 20 special meeting/work session besides the current members of the council the only candidate attending to observe the proceeding was Patrick Webb. Two other members of the public were present including the mayor’s wife, Esther, and Billie Marta.

If the voters approve the April 5 question the Town will then set to work on establishing regulations for the new businesses and making choices. One is to choose to establish either a single license or a dual licensing setup. One would leave the sole licensing to the State and the second would allow the Town to charge for its own separate license. Under either scenario the Town could require that any stores meet their zoning requirements along with possible restrictions on signage and other issues. These requirements would have to be met before the State would issue a license.

Despite the lack of formal commercial operations, local North Fork Valley businesses have benefitted a lot from home growers buying their supplies locally for both indoor and outdoor growing needs.  This includes sales of potting soil, fertilizers, drip irrigation and indoor lighting systems and other supplies. Some businesses are providing consulting services for those who want to grow their own.

In the meantime, after three years, the higher end predictions of what a Colorado marijuana market would be worth have seemingly panned out, exceeding expectations. In November of 2015 the Colorado voters approved the State retaining and spending the marijuana revenues collected beyond the previously lower approved figure. More towns have seen the accounting on the wall and have invited commercial cannabis into their municipalities as a way of boosting the bottom line during challenging economic times. The tiny hamlet of DeBeque on I-70 between Grand Junction (no pot stores) and Glenwood  Springs (yes, pot stores) discovered that being closer and more convenient pays very well after it legalized, becoming Mesa County’s only commercial recreational cannabis source.  The nearby town of Parachute joined in by legalizing commercial sales in 2015. In 2015 eleven Colorado  communities held commercial cannabis votes and it was approved in eight.

In November of 2012, a 55% majority of the participating voters of Colorado made it legal to possess, grow, use, and commercially (under strict conditions) sell cannabis (aka marijuana). Several other states followed suit and many more appear to be poised to do the same in the 2016 election cycle. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders supports national legalization of marijuana.

In 2013 the Hotchkiss Town Council held a couple public hearings about commercial marijuana and then voted unilaterally to opt out of allowing the businesses. No citizen vote was taken on the question.

In November of 2014 the Citizens of the Town of Paonia voted by a narrow margin of 51 votes to keep commercial marijuana sales, manufacture of cannabis products, and growing banned within the town. The vote was fairly close and was probably the result of the anti-forces starting their campaign earlier and being more organized. Also, there was a conflict between local black market growers and the idea of legal commercial cutting into their business models.  The failure to legalize commercial shops meant little to the average resident who wanted access to marijuana since they are free to grow up to six plants per person at home, and to anyone that is familiar with a modern, healthy marijuana plant, that is a LOT of pot. And for those without a green thumb and without generous, sharing friends, they could always make a periodic drive to Carbondale or Ridgeway where the nearest commercial recreational marijuana stores are located. There is also a medical cannabis dispensary at Montrose.

Previously, the voters of Paonia had turned down commercial medical marijuana in an even closer vote. Both Hotchkiss and Crawford Town Council instituted bans by a vote of the trustees on both types of cannabis operations and held no public referendums on the question. Hotchkiss was the first town in Delta County to regulate the home growing of marijuana, limiting home grows on a single property to a maximum of 18 total plants.

According to the text of Amendment 64 citizen initiatives that are aimed at banning commercial cannabis have to be on the General Election ballot during even numbered years but initiatives approving commercial cannabis can apparently be voted on anytime.

(Disclosure: The writer/Herald editor is a member of the Hotchkiss Town Council, Planning Commission and Chamber’s Downtown Improvement/Merchants’ Committee.)  

10.14 Paonia Farm and Home Web (0)

 

Bross in-story WEB 4-14.indd

 

Tags: , , ,