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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2018)
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018 Councilors County Transfer & Recycling Commercial • Residential • Drop Box Service • Portable Storage Rentals • Recycling Specialist • Recyling Services & Containers available at no cost to customers. 5078 Coastwood Lane Phone: 541-997-8233 Florence, OR 97439 Fax: 541-997-7345 Rod McCulloch Karla D. Holloway CPA CPA ay w o o l l Rick Yecny, CPA & A s s o c i e s Write off H Tax Time Stress! Stop in and see us at our Hwy. 101 location 733 Highway 101 (across from Safeway) HOLLOWAY & ASSOCIATES, LLC Certifi ed Public Accountants 733 Highway 101, Florence • Ph #541-997-3434 We specialize in Tax Strategies Bookkeeping and Accounting Services Payroll Services Preparation of Tax Returns for Individuals Corporation LLC’s Estates & Trusts Business Consulting Quickbooks Installation & Training Serving Florence for 39 years Proud to be a Florence and Reedsport-Winchester Bay Chamber member. investigate the possibility of opening the dam on Siltcoos for two or three consecutive years to help correct weed and silting issues. Under “emergency prepara- tion,” the council proposed developing an emergency operation plan in the event the bridges are not useable. Acquiring funding to install a storage container for emergency provisions and road maintenance equipment was also in their strategy. After the goals meeting, the city held its first public town hall regarding the state of roads in the city. Councilor Duke Wells described the meeting, which more than a dozen members of the public attended. “I thought it was a good meeting,” he said. “A lot of things were brought to light of things that, historically, were not done up to snuff.” Wells mentioned the need for inspections of driveways and storm water drainage to be done correctly. One of the major issues is that Dunes City does not have a comprehensive map on where its utility lines are. “It came to light with a job where contractors didn’t know if there were water lines,” Wells said. “We don’t have updated maps of utili- ties. Part of that is because we’ve only been a city since 1963, and before that we have no idea where things were.” Finally, in a regular meet- ing of the Dunes City Council on Wednesday, Feb 14, the council discussed two new resolutions regarding mari- from 1A to the community and govern- ment. The last newsletter was published in 2016. The council also stressed the importance of offering staff opportunities to receive more training. In addition, the council dis- cussed plans to update the website with historical meet- ing minutes and other infor- mation. The council also looked to pursue an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the City of Florence. Currently, Dunes City does not have a judge to rule on city-issued citations for code violations. With an IGA, the City of Florence municipal judge could help enforce Dunes City law. The financial stability of the city was stressed, with the No. 1 goal being, “Do not spend more than is received over the fiscal year.” To help generate more income, the council will explore leasing land for a cell phone tower in the city and requiring business license for all business in the city. The council also stated it would plan on entering a more secure contract for the Oregon Dunes Triathlon and Duathlon, which will be held May 12 in Dunes City and Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park. In terms of water quality, the councilors wanted to pre- pare a water management and conservation plan. The council also looked to FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS /S IUSLAW N EWS ❘ @S IUSLAW N EWS WWW .T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM juana, the first amending the current Conditional Uses Ordinances (155.2.1.111 and 155.2.1.270) to include mari- juana businesses, which encompasses everything from grow sites to dispensaries. The second ordinance is an exhaustive list of rules and regulations describing how such operations should apply for business licenses and reg- ulations the businesses have to follow. The sweeping 14-page doc- ument covers a wide variety of issues, including regula- tions on how a marijuana business should conduct itself within city limits, and an extensive list of documents applicants would need to pro- vide for a license. These include floor, odor mitigation and security plans. The council did not approve the ordinances out- right but voted to have the current language moved to both the Citizens Advisory Commission and City Planning Commission for approval. If the two commis- sions approve the language, the city council could vote them into law. The need for the regula- tions stems from a controver- sy over marijuana grows in the city last year, where three grow operations were allowed to operate within city limits. At the time, city code did not mention marijuana business- es, creating confusion on how to handle and regulate the new operations. The grows were allowed, but after outcry from some members of the public, and a belief by many members of the council that the grows did not fit the culture of the city, a temporary ban was placed on all the grow facilities, leaving only the three marijuana grow sites legal within city limits. While the ban may tem- porarily make such applica- tion rules moot, the council felt there were two reasons 9 A why the new ordinances needed to be passed. First, the ban placed last year was only temporary. In November, the public will have a chance to vote on the future of marijuana business- es in the city. If they vote in favor, the ban will be lifted, and the new regulations will be set in motion. If the public votes against the businesses, the regulations will be moot: The new ordinances give an exception to existing marijua- na grows, not requiring them to apply for a new business license. But the ordinances might be needed before the November election. Late last year, Dunes City resident Catherine Caudle filed suit against the city, stating that the marijuana grow operations in exist- ence were against city land use ordinances. Because of that, the ban, which allowed the three businesses to remain in existence, should be repealed, the suit alleged. However, Dunes City Council claims the conse- quence of removing the ban would essentially allow any marijuana grow business to open in the city until November's election. If that holds true, the city will need proper regulations in place to govern any new businesses that may apply in the interim. Therefore, passing the ordi- nances is needed before the lawsuit it decided, in case the ban is lifted. The case is currently being reviewed by the Oregon State Land Use Board of Appeals. The Siuslaw News is inves- tigating the lawsuit and the circumstances leading up to it, which include allegations of vigilantism and damages to Dunes City Hall. Because of the complexity of the issue, a full story will be published in the coming weeks.
