[420 Girl]

The Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colorado College, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Cheyenne Mountain School District are lending their names to a proposed 1,000-foot buffer zone between medical marijuana businesses and schools and religious facilities.

They all wrote letters in support of the proposed 1,000-foot spacing requirement after Janet Suthers, a member of the city’s Planning Commission, called them or sent them an e-mail urging them to express their views on proposed medical marijuana zoning regulations before today’s commission meeting.

The city’s proposed ordinance calls for a 400-foot buffer zone, but in an e-mail to religious leaders, Suthers said the 1,000-foot requirement was an “alternative proposal.”
The planning commission meeting is underway at the Pikes Peak Regional Development Center, 2880 International Circle.

“The Diocese is concerned that because several of our churches operate pre-schools and K-8 elementary schools, and all of our churches offer religious education for children of all ages, any lesser spacing requirement would adversely affect the religious mission of our parishes and schools,” the Rev. Monsignor Robert Jaeger said in a letter to the commission on behalf of Bishop Michael Sheridan.

Three Cheyenne Mountain School District superintendents – Walter Cooper, Nicholas Gledich and Mark Hatchell – also said they favor a 1,000-foot buffer zone.

“We are advocating for this restriction not based on an arbitrary standard, but on the standard set in the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act that has been in place, and has served us very well, since 1994,” they wrote.

Suthers is the school district’s former board president.

UCCS Chancellor Pamela Shockley-Zalabak and Colorado College President Richard Celeste wrote a joint letter.

“We would respectfully request that the city zoning regulations also provide for minimum distances from property owned by colleges and universities in the city, and that this minimum distance be increased to 1,000 feet for any educational establishments,” they wrote. “This is the standard adopted by the City of Boulder and we believe should be adopted by the City of Colorado Springs.”


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source:Colorado Springs News & Information : Colorado Springs Gazette, CO
Contact: :Colorado Springs News & Information : Colorado Springs Gazette, CO
Copyright: 2010 gazette.com
Website:Bigger marijuana buffer zone draws support from religious, education leaders | colorado, proposed, buffer - Public Affairs - Colorado Springs Gazette, CO


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