Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A July 14 meeting may result in a decision on whether or not a Garfield resident will be permitted to grow marijuana as part of the state’s I-502 legalization process.
Debra Lantzy, who moved to Garfield from Wenatchee last June, has applied for a grower’s license for recreational marijuana on her uncle Charles Lantzy’s land on South 10th Street.
The matter will be discussed at a town adjustment board meeting Monday night to decide on a conditional use permit requested by Lantzy. The board is appointed by the city council to decide conditional use permits.
“That’s all they do,” said Mayor Ray McCown.
As part of a conditional use permit application, neighbors within 300 feet are notified and given the opportunity to comment.
“If they give her the conditional use, then she has the permit,” McCown said. “But she doesn’t have the license.”
In March, Lantzy sent in her application to the state of Washington’s Liquor Control Board to become an I-502 marijuana producer. Meetings were then held by Garfield’s planning and zoning committee which led to an April 9 city council meeting in which Mayor McCown cast a tie-breaking vote to take the first step toward disallowing Lantzy’s endeavor.
Under the state’s rules in implementing I-502, the Liquor Control Board is overseeing legal marijuana producing, processing and retailing.
In turn, after Lantzy applied for a grower’s license, the board sent a standard form to the city of Garfield, asking if there are any misgivings about her request. It’s the same form which is sent if a new bar is opening or a bar is applying to renew their liquor license.
“All we have done is told the Liquor Control Board that the majority of the people are opposed to the marijuana license,” said McCown. “That simply is all there is to it.”
“It’s not the town, it’s the mayor,” said Lantzy, who began a petition in June gathering signatures to prove her contention after McCown made an offer at a May council meeting. He said that if Lantzy gathered signatures from 50 percent of Garfield’s registered voters to approve of her intentions, “then we would probably reverse the vote.”
Lantzy then started to gather signatures.
“I kind of stopped that. It just felt wrong,” she said, of the “almost 60” signatures she said she obtained.
What Lantzy found out, though, she says supports her point.
“Our experience is the town is not that against it,” Lantzy said. “People tell us they are not opposed but won’t sign it due to what their neighbors will think.”
As of last week, there have been 90 grower licenses issued by the state of Washington.
Just the same, various cities and towns have made it so the Liquor Control Board never weighed in with a decision on a requested license.
“There are bans and moratoriums across the state,” said Brian Smith, Communications Director for the State of Washington Liquor Control Board.
There is no limit set for the amount of marijuana producers and processors under the law.
To be eligible, an applicant must meet a set of criteria including lack of a criminal record, financial status, and a location more than 1,000 feet away from areas where children gather, such as schools, transit centers, libraries and childcare centers. Security criteria includes cameras, walls and obscuring fence.
Lantzy is one of several thousand in Washington who have applied to be producers. There would be no retail element to her operation, which she has named Koulee Cush.
She would supply outlets which are among 334 retail licenses granted across the state.
“And most of those will probably never open due to bans and moratoriums,” said Smith.
Lantzy’s application is now in the Liquor Control Board’s upper management initial review stage, which will then be followed by initial supervisory review and then final inspection for the last step.
Once inspected and if granted a license, Lantzy will then buy and install the fencing and extensive security cameras, which will feature face-recognition at 20 feet.
Charles Lantzy is the financier behind the operation.
“This is more involved than anybody realizes,” Debra Lantzy said. “How careful the state’s trying to be.”
She said that if she doesn’t get the license, she might table the project for six months and try again.
“I just know it’s going forward,” she said. “Spearheading a revolution, there is nothing cut and dry.”
Lantzy’s plan is to grow the plants in a hundred-year-old barn on Charles’ property, as well as a second building she would construct.
Her growing area would encompass 3,600 square feet, including space inside the barn as well as the new structure. In a change to her initial plan, there will be no outdoor operation.
“I think that will help,” she said. “Having it outdoors seemed to be one of the reasons for people to oppose it.”
The state license she hopes to get is called a Tier 2 license, which allows for no less than 2,000 square feet of marijuana plant canopy and no more than 10,000.
The operation would require no employees.
While bans and moratoriums against growing, processing and retailing marijuana may be challenged in court, the Washington state Attorney General issued a General Opinion in January noting that “I-502 left in place the normal powers of local governments to regulate within their jurisdictions” and that “nothing in I-502 limits that authority with respect to licensed marijuana businesses.”
The July 14 Garfield adjustment board meeting in will be at 6:30 p.m. at the community center.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
Reader Comments(0)