Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Willlow – At the far end of Willow, an hour and a half outside of Wasilla, David Straub's 500-square-foot limited marijuana cultivation facility sits on his five-acre lot.
The former dog musher and carpenter from Kansas moved to Alaska in 1997 to follow a dream to run in the Iditarod, and has stayed ever since.
It's obvious that Straub has taken pride in his work on the small facility. The clean, three-room space includes a production and packaging area in a garage, a room for raising young plants, and a flowering room for mature plants. He points to a ventilation system that exceeds state standards, with a carbon filtration system, that cleans the air for the space fully about once every minute. He shows me the security system, required by state licensing regulations, with about 10 cameras feeding to a separate security room. Every step in production at the limited cultivation facility must be videotaped at all times, according to the state regulations, and a security system must also include views of the outside of the facility with face-recognition capability at 200 feet minimum.
He pets a puppy as he shows me the security room, the youngest in a pack of several guard dogs he owns, a special breed from the Czech Republic. They make a ruckus from inside their pens when I walk in, and seem security enough for the establishment, called Alaska Precision.
Straub loves breeding dogs, and he's a well-versed devotee to what he calls the art of marijuana growing and husbandry.
But so far, Alaska Precision is missing one thing that makes a marijuana cultivation facility: actual marijuana plants.
That's because the Mat-Su Borough has yet to put its proposed conditional-use permit in place for marijuana businesses. A speedy process to get the permit in place last December was halted when the borough clerk realized her staff had failed to provide adequate public notice for the public hearing on the CUP planned for Dec. 20, after she returned from a vacation just before the assembly meeting. Noting that hosting a public hearing without adequate notice would be illegal, the borough changed the date of the hearing for Jan. 10.
It's another in a long line of delays for Straub and other marijuana cultivators in the valley who have received their state licenses and are waiting on the borough to decide on its local regulations.
It's been seven months since Straub received his state license for Alaska Precision, he said. That's put him in limbo waiting to find out whether the assembly will ultimately amend its proposed CUP so that its setback requirements match the states, or not.
Currently, the CUP requires each facility be 100 feet from the nearest property line. Alaska Precision sits 22 feet from the nearest property line. The nearest structure of his nearest neighbor is a chicken coop a couple hundred feet away from the property line through thick brush and forest, and farther up from that, a house, barely visible.
The small structure the limited cultivation facility is in lies on the high ground of the mostly swamp-filled five acres Straub owns. He could build another 500-square-foot "tin can" closer to the swamp and next to the current structure, he said. But it would cost upward of $10,000 to build and relocate, and get approved. He's hoping the borough will approve changes to the state 50-foot setback requirements, and that he'll be able to finally operate.
"It's like getting everything you need to do a job, and going seven months without a paycheck," he said.
Sara Williams, chair of the Mat-Su Marijuana Advisory Committee and owner of a small business that provides consultation services to marijuana start-ups, said she's hoping the CUP will be amended in a way that fits what she called more common-sense considerations for cultivators who are operating essentially in the middle of nowhere without a likelihood of adverse impact to the surrounding area.
She said she would like limited cultivation facilities — the smaller marijuana grow operations categorized as "limited" under state regulations — be exempted from the CUP and instead have the planning commission consider each one on a case-by-case basis, similar to what it currently does for alcohol licenses.
She said she'd also like to see setbacks modified to be in line with what the state requires — including 50 feet instead of 100 from the nearest property line — and for the manner of counting the distance also to be brought in line with the state, measuring from the front door instead of the corner of the building the business is in. That kind of amendment would mean businesses such as Green Degree on Knik Goose Bay Road would be in compliance with the CUP and could go forward with their businesses.
Williams also expressed frustration with the delays in getting a local regulatory system set up for marijuana businesses. A proposition to ban marijuana businesses in the borough was defeated in Oct. 2016 by a wide margin, but delays have contributed to a state-wide shortage of available product for marijuana retailers eager to get off the ground.
Both Williams and Straub broke down in tears at points during their interviews, a frustration that echoed what occurred at the assembly Dec. 20 meeting, when members of the public both in favor of marijuana businesses and those urging caution seemed barely able to hold back tears during the general comments portion.
"I'm already prepping my speech," Williams said. "I'm ready to light a fire under this assembly, to have economic freedom for people to have their businesses and dreams, whether they choose to do it with this plant. We've got nothing left to lose."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Mat-Su Marijuana Cultivators Face Setbacks
Author: Mary Lockman
Contact: 907-352-2250
Photo Credit: Mary Lockman
Website: Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
The former dog musher and carpenter from Kansas moved to Alaska in 1997 to follow a dream to run in the Iditarod, and has stayed ever since.
It's obvious that Straub has taken pride in his work on the small facility. The clean, three-room space includes a production and packaging area in a garage, a room for raising young plants, and a flowering room for mature plants. He points to a ventilation system that exceeds state standards, with a carbon filtration system, that cleans the air for the space fully about once every minute. He shows me the security system, required by state licensing regulations, with about 10 cameras feeding to a separate security room. Every step in production at the limited cultivation facility must be videotaped at all times, according to the state regulations, and a security system must also include views of the outside of the facility with face-recognition capability at 200 feet minimum.
He pets a puppy as he shows me the security room, the youngest in a pack of several guard dogs he owns, a special breed from the Czech Republic. They make a ruckus from inside their pens when I walk in, and seem security enough for the establishment, called Alaska Precision.
Straub loves breeding dogs, and he's a well-versed devotee to what he calls the art of marijuana growing and husbandry.
But so far, Alaska Precision is missing one thing that makes a marijuana cultivation facility: actual marijuana plants.
That's because the Mat-Su Borough has yet to put its proposed conditional-use permit in place for marijuana businesses. A speedy process to get the permit in place last December was halted when the borough clerk realized her staff had failed to provide adequate public notice for the public hearing on the CUP planned for Dec. 20, after she returned from a vacation just before the assembly meeting. Noting that hosting a public hearing without adequate notice would be illegal, the borough changed the date of the hearing for Jan. 10.
It's another in a long line of delays for Straub and other marijuana cultivators in the valley who have received their state licenses and are waiting on the borough to decide on its local regulations.
It's been seven months since Straub received his state license for Alaska Precision, he said. That's put him in limbo waiting to find out whether the assembly will ultimately amend its proposed CUP so that its setback requirements match the states, or not.
Currently, the CUP requires each facility be 100 feet from the nearest property line. Alaska Precision sits 22 feet from the nearest property line. The nearest structure of his nearest neighbor is a chicken coop a couple hundred feet away from the property line through thick brush and forest, and farther up from that, a house, barely visible.
The small structure the limited cultivation facility is in lies on the high ground of the mostly swamp-filled five acres Straub owns. He could build another 500-square-foot "tin can" closer to the swamp and next to the current structure, he said. But it would cost upward of $10,000 to build and relocate, and get approved. He's hoping the borough will approve changes to the state 50-foot setback requirements, and that he'll be able to finally operate.
"It's like getting everything you need to do a job, and going seven months without a paycheck," he said.
Sara Williams, chair of the Mat-Su Marijuana Advisory Committee and owner of a small business that provides consultation services to marijuana start-ups, said she's hoping the CUP will be amended in a way that fits what she called more common-sense considerations for cultivators who are operating essentially in the middle of nowhere without a likelihood of adverse impact to the surrounding area.
She said she would like limited cultivation facilities — the smaller marijuana grow operations categorized as "limited" under state regulations — be exempted from the CUP and instead have the planning commission consider each one on a case-by-case basis, similar to what it currently does for alcohol licenses.
She said she'd also like to see setbacks modified to be in line with what the state requires — including 50 feet instead of 100 from the nearest property line — and for the manner of counting the distance also to be brought in line with the state, measuring from the front door instead of the corner of the building the business is in. That kind of amendment would mean businesses such as Green Degree on Knik Goose Bay Road would be in compliance with the CUP and could go forward with their businesses.
Williams also expressed frustration with the delays in getting a local regulatory system set up for marijuana businesses. A proposition to ban marijuana businesses in the borough was defeated in Oct. 2016 by a wide margin, but delays have contributed to a state-wide shortage of available product for marijuana retailers eager to get off the ground.
Both Williams and Straub broke down in tears at points during their interviews, a frustration that echoed what occurred at the assembly Dec. 20 meeting, when members of the public both in favor of marijuana businesses and those urging caution seemed barely able to hold back tears during the general comments portion.
"I'm already prepping my speech," Williams said. "I'm ready to light a fire under this assembly, to have economic freedom for people to have their businesses and dreams, whether they choose to do it with this plant. We've got nothing left to lose."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Mat-Su Marijuana Cultivators Face Setbacks
Author: Mary Lockman
Contact: 907-352-2250
Photo Credit: Mary Lockman
Website: Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman