It’s that time again.
The Lewis County Board of County Commissioners is considering renewing its moratorium on marijuana.
A hearing on the moratorium is being held during the regular meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. Monday at the Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis.
County staff need an additional six months to “develop recommendations in the form of draft code amendments,” according to county documents.
According to county documents, the Lewis County Planning Commission is recommending that additional work and changes need to be made to county code to regulate impacts of marijuana production, processing and sale on the environment, nearby land uses and public health and safety.
The planning commission, overseen by Lewis County Community Development, held nine workshops on amending recreational marijuana code and took public testimony during the meetings.
Community Development Director Lee Napier said county officials didn’t foresee the process to take this long.
The planning commission made draft amendments in the county’s code Chapter 17 regarding land use and development for marijuana operations. However, some amendments pertaining to solid waste disposal refer to Title 8 dealing with health and safety, that area of county code also needs to be adjusted.
“Right now there isn’t anything in Title 8 that is included that would address the concerns, so that’s the biggest change to look at our solid waste water treatment,” Napier said. She later added that the county has primarily heard from people who want to produce and process marijuana, who would be affected by the waste production, and not people who want to begin retail shops.
Napier and her department are working with staff from the county’s Environmental Health Division and Solid Waste Services to make changes to sections in the title.
She expects a small work group will focus on the amendments for Title 8 to come up with a recommendation that will be compared to the planning commission’s recommendation.
The planning commission’s draft code amendments include restricting marijuana retailers to small town mixed use, crossroad commercial and freeway commercial zoned areas. Marijuana processing and production would be allowed in small town industrial zones. All operations would require special use permits.
Marijuana production and type 1 marijuana processing — drying, curing, trimming and packaging — would be allowed in the rural area industrial district, privately owned forest resource lands and privately owned agricultural resource lands. Type 2 processing, extracting, infusing or involving mechanical or chemical processing, would not be allowed in those areas.
Other requirements are outlined in the draft.
As long as resources don’t get redirected to another project, Napier said, she believes the moratorium will not be extended a fourth time.
The board first enacted the moratorium that prohibits facilities that produce, process or sell marijuana and derived products in December 2013. Commissioners have extended the moratorium twice since then.
