[420 Girl]

The Billings City Council will vote on a moratorium on medical-marijuana businesses at its meeting Monday night. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 220 N. 27th St.

Last year, the council came close to passing an interim ordinance that would have temporarily banned new medical-marijuana businesses, but the council instead chose to create an ad hoc committee to study the issue and make recommendations on how to handle the shops that were just beginning to pop up around town.

Now, the city has issued more than 80 business licenses for medical-marijuana businesses, and new marijuana shops seem to be opening almost daily. There are at least three shops already open on Grand Avenue, several within sight distance of Senior High. A proposed fourth shop, on Grand Avenue near Rehberg Lane, has drawn criticism from parents whose children attend nearby Will James Middle School.

Those parents and others have flooded recent council meetings and council members’ e-mail inboxes, and the ad hoc committee is recommending that the council pass an interim ordinance banning new medical-marijuana shops. The council may adopt language that bans even existing shops if they’re located within 1,000 feet of a school, but it’s unclear if the council will go in that direction. The city’s legal staff has expressed reservations about forcing businesses to close because of a temporary ordinance.

An interim ordinance has an initial life of six months, which is meant to give the city time to come up with permanent rules that it can adopt after that time.

But the interim ordinance can be extended another year, which would give the city time to see what steps the state Legislature might take next year to regulate medical marijuana. The ad hoc committee will continue its work in that time, but city officials are hoping for guidance from the Legislature.

In other business, the council will vote on an update to the city’s fire code. If approved, the city would update from the 2006 to the 2009 version of the International Fire Code.

The council will also consider annexing a 1.9-acre parcel of land at the corner of Zimmerman Trail and Avenue E.

The owners of the property plan to develop a pediatric clinic on the property.



News Hawk: Warbux 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Billings Gazette
Author: Matt Hagengruber
Contact: The Billings Gazette - Montana & Wyoming News
Copyright: 2010 The Billings Gazette
Website: Medical marijuana tops agenda


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