[420 Girl]

A Wyoming investor is one step closer to turning a one-time organic egg farm into one of the largest pot farms in Colorado, even as residents object to a plan they say will trigger safety concerns and hurt their property values.

Residents near the 67-acre property north of Longmont have until Aug. 19 to submit comments about the plan, and Boulder County commissioners can still hold a public hearing before giving final approval. The county's land use department gave initial approval to the plan Friday.

"I can't imagine that it'll help my property values any," said Lance Messenger, who lives near the proposed farm. Messenger said he has started gathering signatures from people who oppose the plan and he's up to five pages.

"I haven't run across anyone yet that was for it," he said. Residents have said they fear that a medical marijuana growing operation will attract crime.

Laramie City Councilman Scott Mullner must meet several conditions for the plan to go through.

Boulder County recently passed a law banning the use of agricultural land to grow marijuana but Mullner had already submitted his plans by then.

Mullner doesn't plan grow the marijuana himself, and a new state law prohibits him from doing so anyway because he doesn't live in Colorado. But he said he bought the farm as an investment and could sell it to someone else.

"It's much more valuable to me, as an investor, having that guarantee there," Mullner told the Longmont Times-Call last month.

It's unclear how the farm would function. Lawyers previously said new Colorado regulations governing medical marijuana bar growers from supplying pot to multiple dispensaries.

The property where the pot farm would be was the location of Nest Fresh Eggs from 1992 to 2006.

Mullner also has to submit a lighting plan, remove a mobile home and camping trailer from the property, provide an example of a proposed steel entrance gate, and meet all state and local rules for a marijuana-related operation. And he must agree to not use five containment buildings on the property for housing or retail sales.


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Denver Post
Author: The Associated Press
Contact: The Denver Post
Copyright: 2010 The Denver Post
Website: Possible pot farm angers Colorado community

* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article


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