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It looks like Nederland will not be blazing ahead of the pack when it comes to recreational marijuana after all.
Earlier in the year, an Amendment 64 "shadow task force," made up of local advocates who are monitoring the state task force assembled to make legal recommendations for the establishment of Colorado's new recreational marijuana businesses, explored an ordinance that would have established a recreational pot business in Nederland before statewide regulations were put in place.
But with Colorado legislators passing a series of historic marijuana bills Wednesday, town officials say the town will instead operate on the state's timeline with regards to its recreational marijuana industry.
"The state is setting up the framework by which we would operate," said Nederland Mayor Joe Gierlach. "Now that the state has its regulations in place, I assume that the state departments will develop their regulations."
Gierlach formed his own task force to examine the key local issues that Nederland might encounter in establishing recreational marijuana, focusing on building codes, zoning, licensing and taxation.
"These are all things that were focused on what affects us locally in Nederland and how we're going to mesh with what the state is doing," Gierlach said.
Because Nederland is a statutory municipality, it has less flexibility in making its own laws than home rule municiplities like Boulder. As a result, Gierlach said some of the recommendations of the local task force -- like establishing "marijuana coffee shops" where people could purchase and smoke marijuana -- will be trumped by state law.
"The task force did recommend that we allow the 'pot shop' model, but they did realize the state might overrule us," Gierlach said.
But Rico Colibri, who moved to Nederland in January and is a member of the shadow task force and helped draft the proposed "Marijuana Establishment Regulation Ordinance," said the town should still pursue some of the laws in the ordinance.
"Nederland already has kind of its profile as 'Pot Town U.S.A,'" Colibri said. "I expect to see something radically different from, say, Boulder."
Colibri says he thinks the town should still try and pursue on-premise smoking businesses, even though the state legislature shot that idea down.
"I think that with respect to local control there is still a discussion," Colibri said. "Home-ruled municipalities can regulate a substance like alcohol separate from state law. Statutory, it's a little more debatable. But I think it's still an open option."
Colibri added small towns like Nederland would have to reduce the minimum distance required between pot shops and schools from 1,000 feet to about 100 feet and some other zoning changes.
"Nederland is so small and has limited space, so it has to have radically different zoning uses than a place like Boulder," Colibri said.
But ultimately, Colibri said he was generally happy with what the state legislature accomplished in its session.
"They always say in a perfect compromise nobody is 100 percent happy," he said. "I think it's a good starting point."
And with that starting point, small towns like Nederland now have the task of integrating their existing laws and visions for their own recreational marijuana industries as the state continues to move forward, post-Amendment 64.
"One of our main goals is to support local business in Nederland," Gierlach said. "Our local task force is still going to be working on what works best for our community, while working in tandem with what the state is doing."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: dailycamera.com
Author: Mitchell Byars
Contact: Contact Us - Boulder Daily Camera
Website: Nederland backs off plan to pioneer recreational pot rules - Boulder Daily Camera
Earlier in the year, an Amendment 64 "shadow task force," made up of local advocates who are monitoring the state task force assembled to make legal recommendations for the establishment of Colorado's new recreational marijuana businesses, explored an ordinance that would have established a recreational pot business in Nederland before statewide regulations were put in place.
But with Colorado legislators passing a series of historic marijuana bills Wednesday, town officials say the town will instead operate on the state's timeline with regards to its recreational marijuana industry.
"The state is setting up the framework by which we would operate," said Nederland Mayor Joe Gierlach. "Now that the state has its regulations in place, I assume that the state departments will develop their regulations."
Gierlach formed his own task force to examine the key local issues that Nederland might encounter in establishing recreational marijuana, focusing on building codes, zoning, licensing and taxation.
"These are all things that were focused on what affects us locally in Nederland and how we're going to mesh with what the state is doing," Gierlach said.
Because Nederland is a statutory municipality, it has less flexibility in making its own laws than home rule municiplities like Boulder. As a result, Gierlach said some of the recommendations of the local task force -- like establishing "marijuana coffee shops" where people could purchase and smoke marijuana -- will be trumped by state law.
"The task force did recommend that we allow the 'pot shop' model, but they did realize the state might overrule us," Gierlach said.
But Rico Colibri, who moved to Nederland in January and is a member of the shadow task force and helped draft the proposed "Marijuana Establishment Regulation Ordinance," said the town should still pursue some of the laws in the ordinance.
"Nederland already has kind of its profile as 'Pot Town U.S.A,'" Colibri said. "I expect to see something radically different from, say, Boulder."
Colibri says he thinks the town should still try and pursue on-premise smoking businesses, even though the state legislature shot that idea down.
"I think that with respect to local control there is still a discussion," Colibri said. "Home-ruled municipalities can regulate a substance like alcohol separate from state law. Statutory, it's a little more debatable. But I think it's still an open option."
Colibri added small towns like Nederland would have to reduce the minimum distance required between pot shops and schools from 1,000 feet to about 100 feet and some other zoning changes.
"Nederland is so small and has limited space, so it has to have radically different zoning uses than a place like Boulder," Colibri said.
But ultimately, Colibri said he was generally happy with what the state legislature accomplished in its session.
"They always say in a perfect compromise nobody is 100 percent happy," he said. "I think it's a good starting point."
And with that starting point, small towns like Nederland now have the task of integrating their existing laws and visions for their own recreational marijuana industries as the state continues to move forward, post-Amendment 64.
"One of our main goals is to support local business in Nederland," Gierlach said. "Our local task force is still going to be working on what works best for our community, while working in tandem with what the state is doing."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: dailycamera.com
Author: Mitchell Byars
Contact: Contact Us - Boulder Daily Camera
Website: Nederland backs off plan to pioneer recreational pot rules - Boulder Daily Camera
