Whitefish marijuana law ready for review

A draft ordinance that maps out where to put medical marijuana dispensaries in Whitefish is ready for review Thursday at a Whitefish City-County Planning Board work session.

In November 2009, the City Council imposed an emergency ordinance that temporarily outlawed medical marijuana shops until the city could figure out how to zone the new businesses.

The Planning Board began tackling the issue last month, but after a considerable amount of public testimony the board ran out of time for its own discussion.

Since then, the Whitefish Planning Office has put together a draft law for the board as a starting point for more in-depth discussion. Direction given at the work session should result in a final draft that can be presented for a public hearing by the Planning Board in March, Planning Director David Taylor said.

The draft presents medical marijuana dispensaries as a permitted use in the business service district — a relatively new zone near the intersection of Montana 40 and Dillon/Conn roads — and in the casino overlay zone of the secondary business district along U.S. 93 South.

With an approved conditional-use permit, dispensaries also would be allowed on a case-by-case basis in the other major commercial and industrial zoning districts and the suburban agricultural zone where it fronts U.S. 93 South.

Medical marijuana shops would be allowed in the downtown area with conditional-use permits, according to the draft, but setbacks from schools, churches, playgrounds and the library would have a major impact on where shops could be situated.

The draft law calls for a 200-foot setback measured in a straight line from such facilities. Two-hundred feet is roughly half a block.

Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said he would like to see buffers around schools increased to 500 feet, according to a memorandum issued by Taylor to the Planning Board.

“A 500-foot setback takes out all of Central Avenue,” Taylor said.

Dial also has expressed concern about on-site consumption of marijuana at dispensaries, he said. The draft does include a provision that allows on-site consumption, but makes it clear that each business is responsible for the well-being of its patients if they leave the premises in an impaired state, “much like bartenders are in drinking establishments,” Taylor explained.

The proposed law would allow larger agricultural-style greenhouses and growing operations in agricultural and country residential zones, providing there’s no dispensary on site.

Public testimony about the draft ordinance will be taken during the public-comment portion of the Planning Board meeting that begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Whitefish City Hall. Following a short meeting, the board will adjourn to the work session.

 Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com