Wednesday, July 12, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
17
Rural Oregon residents at odds with large marijuana grows
By Damian Mann
Mail Tribune
WILLIAMS (AP) —
Williams is known as one of
Oregon’s pot-growing capi-
tals, but longtime residents
have raised alarms over indus-
trialized grows they say are
ruining the character of this
close-knit rural community.
“People are pissed off,”
said Michael Johnson, chief
operating officer of Siskiyou
Sungrown Farms.
Small artisan cannabis
farmers find themselves pit-
ted against giant marijuana
greenhouse conglomerates,
said Johnson, whose outdoor
cannabis grow, which relies
on sunlight and native soil,
is often cited by locals as a
responsible operation.
Community organizers are
drafting a September ballot
initiative they hope will lead
to a moratorium on activities
associated with future large-
scale grows until regulations
addressing the community’s
concerns can be implemented.
“This is not about mari-
juana, it’s about bringing
industry into a rural-resi-
dential area,” said Sha’ana
Fineberg, co-chair of the
Williams Town Council and
Citizens Advisory Committee.
“It’s asking for a morato-
rium on the activities that
are negatively impacting the
community.”
Growing marijuana has
long been a way of life in
Williams, but gardens were
relatively low-key until recre-
ational marijuana use became
legal in 2015. Now massive
commercial operations have
sprung up throughout the
community, drawing concerns
over increased traffic, fences
that stretch for hundreds of
feet, semi-trucks racing down
rural roads and large green-
houses with bright lights and
loud fans.
Those who moved to
Williams for the peace and
quiet say their lifestyle has
been threatened by dummy
corporations buying up large
tracts of land, making it diffi-
cult to determine who the real
owners are, Johnson said.
Johnson’s 40,000 square-
foot operation on Williams
Highway has worked with the
state to avoid installing the
opaque fencing that annoys so
many neighbors.
“You can’t do it with less
impact than this type of oper-
ation,” he said. “Most of the
frustration in the community
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comes from the big green-
house operations.”
Williams sits in the middle
of Oregon’s largest pot grow-
ing region. Jackson County
has most marijuana producers
of any county in the state at
299, according to the Oregon
Liquor Control Commission,
which regulates the recre-
ation marijuana industry. In
Josephine County, where
Williams is located, there
are 213, the second highest
in the state. Together the two
counties have 512 producers,
accounting for nearly one-
third of the 1,535 licensed
operations in Oregon.
There are 11 licensed
recreational grow sites in
Williams, with 12 more pro-
posed, the OLCC said. To
illustrate Williams’ longtime
acceptance of marijuana, the
area in 2011 had 400 reg-
istered medical marijuana
growers out of a population
of 2,000, according to the
Oregon Health Authority.
Fineberg said the morato-
rium is not intended to stop
recreational grows.
“Our goal is simple,” said
Fineberg, who is not a grower.
“Our goal is to protect our
community.”
Community members,
who’ve been airing their
concerns and seeking solu-
tions for weeks, are drafting
a ballot initiative asking vot-
ers in the Williams ZIP code
whether they want a morato-
rium on activities associated
with new large-scale mari-
juana grows. If the initiative
passes with 66 percent of the
vote, organizers hope it will
persuade Josephine County
commissioners to adopt the
moratorium for their unincor-
porated community.
Then the community and
county officials could draft
regulations limiting activities
that threaten the rural nature
of Williams. She said the
regulations would apply only
to Williams and only for any
future operations.
Drafting the language for
the proposed moratorium
has been more complex than
Fineberg and others expected.
She said she’s put in 20 hours
a week for nine months.
While the list of unwanted
activities hasn’t been com-
pletely fleshed out, control-
ling light and noise from
greenhouses are two issues
that likely will be included in
the moratorium.
Because most of Williams
supports recreational canna-
bis, Fineberg said the morato-
rium has to be carefully writ-
ten to avoid more conflicts.
A brochure of best prac-
tices for cannabis growers is
being distributed in the com-
munity to inform newcomers
how they can avoid problems
that might bother neighbors,
including loud fans, light pol-
lution, use of pesticides, ero-
sion, setbacks, traffic, visual
impacts and more.
“Every time we go out,
we see another fence,” said
See MARIJUANA on page 25
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