SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
Councilors
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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
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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.