SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2017
Dunes City
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from 1A
the soil, raising crops, horticul-
ture, small livestock farming,
dairying and/or animal hus-
bandry, and the raising of
Christmas trees.”
The attorney’s letter went on
to state, “Raising marijuana —
a crop — is ‘agriculture’ under
the city’s code and is therefore
outright permitted use on my
client’s properly. And determi-
nation by the city to the con-
trary would ignore the plain
language of the city’s develop-
ment code.”
According to the Oregon
Department of Agriculture,
cannabis is considered an agri-
cultural crop. Dunes City Code
does not specifically negate
this.
Opponents to the grow sites
have pointed to the Dunes City
Comprehensive plan which
states, “Dunes City is primari-
ly a rural residential and
recreational
community.
Agricultural activity is second-
ary in nature and is usually
restricted to small animals,
horses and family gardens.”
While the plan does put
emphasis on “family gardens,”
it gives ample leeway to inter-
pretation with phrases like
“secondary in nature,” “prima-
rily” and “such as.”
“What is ‘such as?’” asked
Mills when asked about the
rule. “It’s very vague, which is
part of the problem with the
comprehensive plan. It needs
to be updated so it can have
clear and objective opinions in
it.”
The question then leads to if
the commercial aspect. The
grows are located in a residen-
tially zoned area, so why
would a commercial grow site
be allowed?
Policy
G4
of
the
Comprehensive Plan states,
“Minor economic activities,
such as home occupations, will
be permitted if they are not
harmful to air, water or land
quality, and if they are not
potential nuisances to neigh-
boring uses. Dunes City does
not seek industries to locate in
the city.”
“Minor economic activities”
does not give any direction to
the scope of the occupation,
whether it be large or small.
“It seems to be ‘commer-
cial’ is the word that everybody
is hung up on,” Mills said.
“And I can understand why
they’re hung up on it.
Commercial shouldn’t be
allowed in residential. If that’s
the case, then we need to
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change our code because our
code encourages home occupa-
tions.”
Mills believed the vague
laws were a primary force in
allowing the LUCS, a senti-
ment the council agreed with.
“We haven’t looked at our
codes for some time,” Forsythe
said. “This is kind of a kick in
the pants and we need to start
updating this stuff anyway. I
would have preferred it done in
a different manner, but this
does head us down that
process.”
Another issue facing the city
is the actual enforcement of
these vague laws.
The LUCS requires current
growers to comply with city
nuisance laws, which are laid
out in Ordinance 176.
The Siuslaw News did
obtain one copy of a completed
LUCS, which specifically goes
over these concerns, stating the
applicant must “be aware that
Dunes City nuisance ordi-
nances will be enforced.”
In an April 13 public Dunes
City Council meeting, Cain-
Mathis laid out her plans to
avoid running afoul of the nui-
sance laws.
“We will have no odor
issues because we filter grow
sites with state of the art char-
coal systems,” she said. “A
charcoal system is placed on
the exhaust.”
She also brought up her
plans for safety concerns,
including security cameras, an
eight-foot fence and safes for
cash on hand.
Ordinance 176 does give the
public recourse if the marijua-
na growers do break any of the
nuisance provisions.
The city will have the
authority to review the site if a
nuisance is reported to them. If
the operations do not follow
through on fixing the issues,
legal action can be taken
against them.
But what action can the city
actually take?
Dunes City has no police
force, instead relying on Lane
County Sheriff’s Office, which
can take up to four hours to
arrive to a scene. The city also
lacks its own court system,
which has led to code viola-
tions being ignored by resi-
dents and problems continuing
to exist.
“We need to link up with the
court system, whether it be
Florence or Lane County,”
Forsythe said. “I think we need
an IGA (intergovernmental
agreement) with Florence
Police Department.”
Nuisance would not be the
only negative affects the grows
could have on the city. The
public has brought up multiple
objections to possible environ-
mental issues the grows could
create. For example, the LUCS
informs growers that “no phos-
phorus-containing fertilizers or
pesticides are permitted.”
In the April public meeting,
Cain-Mathis gave an explana-
tion as to her process in fol-
lowing that rule.
“We buy only pre-mixed
soils,” she said. “We do not use
manure in our grow sites. We
only use state approved fertil-
izers and we only grow organ-
ic products. We do not want
anybody buying any marijuana
from any distributor that isn’t
organic.”
She then explained that the
plants themselves will create
no waste, as the entire plant is
processed, stem to follower.
One frequent concern for
Dunes City residents has been
the grows’ use of water, with
one fear surrounding a well
built on one of the properties.
A one-pound marijuana plant
typically needs one gallon of
water per day. The fear was
that the well would be used to
water the crops and dry up the
rest of the area.
The Cain-Mathis LUCS
stated, “Water well is being
placed on property for cultivat-
ing purposes, which meets
Chapter 155 Zoning and
Development site plan includ-
ed (sic).”
The well is required by
OLCC because each grow
must have its own water sup-
ply.
Cain-Mathis contends that
she will not be using the well
water for the crops, instead
using water shipped in from
Eugene and stored in under-
ground containers.
The LUCS required Cain-
Mathis to provide a signed
contract for that water delivery.
Some members of the public
have suggested the LUCS
negates this by tying well
water to cultivating. However,
the LUCS does not specifically
say how much the well would
be used for the grow site.
Even if the grow site did use
the well, a survey found that it
would have little impact on the
surrounding area.
In a written statement read
aloud at a Sept. 13 public
meeting, Michael J. Thoma,
PhD, a hydrogeologist for the
Oregon
Water
Resource
Department, concluded, “It is
unlikely that
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