BEND, Ore. (AP) - Residents in an Oregon county could soon see changes to the county’s approach toward its existing policy on marijuana.
Deschutes County’s community development department presented its assessment of marijuana rules to the County Commission Monday during a work session, The Bend Bulletin reported.
The presentation was intended to lead to a discussion on potential changes to county rules.
The goal is to cut down on the illegal activity she and many rural residents believe is occurring outside of the legal, permitted grows, Commissioner Tammy Baney said.
“Right now, we are not able to enforce what we currently have on the books,” Baney said after the meeting. “I’d prefer to not continue bringing in applications at the same time that we’re looking at the regulations.”
Deschutes County implemented its rules for marijuana production, processing, retail and wholesale operations outside urban growth boundaries in 2016. Deschutes County Senior Planner Matt Martin says the rules were always meant to be revisited once the community development department has more information about the newly legal industry.
The assessment discussed Monday included the results from a series of meetings with state and local agencies, several focus groups, an online survey and a round of annual inspections. The assessment concluded that many of the problems neighbors are experiencing stem from personal, medical or black-market marijuana operations, which aren’t subject to Deschutes County’s land use rules.
While Baney acknowledged that the 14 marijuana-related businesses currently operating in the rural county are largely operating within the law, she was concerned about the element that isn’t following the county’s rules. Infractions can include everything from code violations like unmitigated odor and lights to illegal black-market sales, which Baney said the state isn’t able to keep up with.
“We kind of know that Deschutes County and the state of Oregon doesn’t have the resources,” Baney said.
Baney proposed adding two short-term employees, including one that would be partially funded by the city of Bend, to help with code enforcement throughout the county.
“I would like to see us find a way to not accept more applications while we try to get our arms around this,” Baney said.
David Doyle, legal counsel for Deschutes County, said the county likely lacks the ability to enforce a legal moratorium, and capping the number or density of applications may prompt a state-level legal challenge the county could lose.
The County Commission plans to meet again on the matter on April 11.
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Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com
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