The
Pot
ISSUE
W
hen Oregon legalized recreational
marijuana in 2015, the state Legis-
lature gave counties and cities the
responsibility of setting standards
for the industry. Local governments
can restrict where and how marijuana can be grown and
sold, or choose to opt out of the recreational weed market
completely.
Local control gives communities the power to shape the
growing industry, but also places a burden on the agencies
that manage land and water use decisions and deal with
disputes between neighbors.
LOCAL CONTROL
Statewide, 77 cities have prohibited recreational
marijuana, including Coburg, Creswell and Junction City in
Lane County. Of the 36 counties in Oregon, 16 have decided
to not allow marijuana production. A Eugene attorney
seeking to sell marijuana in Creswell is seeking to challenge
that city’s decisions (see “Pot Petition,” EW July 27).
Jackson, Josephine, Lane and Clackamas counties
account for nearly 60 percent of the recreational grow
applications in the state. The Oregon Liquor Control
Commission (OLCC) is in charge of the recreational
marijuana permitting program. Jackson and Josephine
counties have the highest totals because the climate in
southern Oregon is ideal for marijuana cultivation and
because there is a history of growing in the area.
Lane County has the third-most producer applications,
at 211. According to OLCC documents, 93 of the 211
applications for marijuana production in Lane County have
been approved. The remaining 118 are either in the process
of being reviewed, not yet assigned to an investigator or
lack local land use approval.
OLCC documents show there are more producer licenses
awaiting review or not yet assigned to an investigator than
there are approved licenses. A major influx of applications
is stretching OLCC’s ability to manage the program.
Jason Boyer, an owner and administrator of Wild West
Growers in Eugene, says producers often don’t realize
how lengthy the licensing process can be. He says it takes
between two and six months to be assigned an OLCC
inspector.
Boyer says it’s important that growers meet permit
requirements, including 8-foot high fences, security plans
and surveillance systems, before inspectors come.
“You need to look ahead and have your growing system
ready,” Boyer says. He knows growers who didn’t get their
licenses on time and lost out on valuable growth for their
plants.
To be a large-scale professional producer “people need
to know the actual expense,” Boyer says. Entry into the
statewide recreational marijuana production business
requires an initial investment of at least $250,000 to set up
a successful grow that meets OLCC and local compliance
standards, he says.
Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Association of Oregon
Counties, says that because land use law in Oregon is
implemented on a county-by-county basis, there’s little
consistency for recreational growers.
“If you’ve seen one county’s land use plan, you’ve seen
just that — one plan,” Bovett says.
In Lane County, growing marijuana is allowed without
additional land use permits on forest and agricultural land
and with additional provisions in industrial and residential
commercial zones.
Proponents of the industry would like to see recreational
grows permitted in rural residential zones because those
lands are generally available in smaller parcel sizes than
forest and farmland.
But rural residents have raised concerns that having the
cash-dominated businesses in their neighborhoods could
contribute to crime and that heavy summer water demand
for the crop could tax already overworked wells.
According to Lane County spokesperson Devon
Ashbridge, the county has seen an estimated 20 percent
increase in questions to land managers regarding marijuana
since legalization. The county has also seen an increase in
marijuana related land use complaints.
Unlike Lane County, Eugene treats marijuana
businesses like any other commercial, industrial or
agricultural enterprise. Boyer of Wild West Growers says
the city has been helpful and responsive in the permitting
and inspections process.
In Jackson County, which has the highest number of
OLCC permit applications, recreational marijuana grows
are allowed on 94 percent of privately owned lands in a
county with notoriously little police and public services.
Like Lane County, Jackson County does not allow
recreational marijuana grows in rural residential areas.
Josephine County, which has the second most OLCC
recreational applications, allows recreational production in
rural residential zones.
Differences in county rules fit the law’s intent to allow
local control, according to Rob Bovett. As part of his work
for AOC, he has lobbied for counties to keep local control
and options. Bovett sees the current laws as an effective
way of maintaining decision-making authority in local
hands.
Corinne Celko, a lawyer with the Emerge Law Group
in Portland, says implementing the new system has been
difficult because there are different and at times conflicting
laws and regulations, from the federal government all the
way down to counties and cities.
She says local planning and building divisions, which in
many cases are already stretched thin in terms of resources,
have a difficult time sorting out the rules that govern
the fledgling industry. How best to regulate and permit
legalized marijuana businesses is “a novel question that’s
not easily answered for the growing industry,” Celko says.
WATER FOR WEED
The budding industry has also increased the workload
for the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD),
which must certify that growers have legal water rights
under the OLCC licensing process. From 2015 to 2016
groundwater applications in the Rogue Basin of southern
Oregon more than doubled.
Racquel Rancier, the senior policy coordinator for
OWRD, says the laws that govern water access aren’t
different for marijuana than any other crop.
“The water rights process is a public process,” Rancier
says. Considerations for granting water permits include
impacts on existing water users and making sure the
process offers multiple avenues for public comment and
objections from neighboring water users.
The rapid growth of the industry, especially in southern
Oregon, has led “to an increase in complaints and concerns
from neighbors about water use,” Rancier says.
BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR
Opponents of legalization and neighbors unhappy about
the skunky crop growing next door have brought several
legal cases against recreational marijuana growers.
In Clackamas County, landowners are bringing
racketeering charges against neighboring growers aimed at
enforcing federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations) laws. Vineyard owners in Yamhill County
have sought to block a neighboring weed grow over
complaints about the scent tainting their grapes (See “Into
the Weeds with Wine,” EW July 13).
These complaints come against a backdrop of increased
federal scrutiny of legalized marijuana by Attorney
General Jeff Sessions. Of particular concern to Sessions
is an Oregon State Police report that pointed out that the
state was over-producing marijuana and contributing to the
black market in other states.
Despite the multiple hoops growers have to jump
through, and the somewhat shaky legal ground they grow
on, the marijuana business is booming in Oregon. In the
2016 to 2017 fiscal year, the industry contributed more
than $70 million in taxes to state coffers.
The greatest obstacle recreational growers face likely
isn't a law but rather their relationships with neighbors.
Lawyer Celko says the most important advice she can
give to clients is “to be active in your local government
rule-making process and to become involved in the
community in which you desire to do business.”
eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 17, 2017
11