John Scarffe, Gilpin County.  The Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners heard the second reading and conducted a public hearing for an ordinance creating a licensing authority and procedure for three marijuana cultivation facilities in the county during a regular meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 11, 2017, at the Gilpin County Courthouse. Gilpin County Attorney James Petrock proposed the marijuana grow ordinance and the Board heard the first reading at its June 13 meeting.

Petrock said that the ordinance is needed because the Commissioners have allowed one operating, licensed, retail marijuana dispensary in Gilpin County, but the prohibition on additional grow operations and dispensaries continues today, Petrock said. The purpose is not to allow more retail outlets in the county but to allow commercial grows on a limited basis.

Only three licenses would be issued with intense zoning requirements. One of those licenses is already spoken for and it is a dual operation, Petrock said. The ordinance addresses areas of problems for growing in the county, home-based growing of marijuana and all the issues associated with that, including a restriction on the number of plants in a residential setting, inspections from the County and building code requirements.

The ordinance tightens up non-existent regulations, Petrock said. The County hasn’t done that before because state law was ambiguous as to how many residential plants were allowed. The state tightened up its statute, and now the County has a lot more authority to regulate residential grow operations.

Those are the substantive changes the ordinance would bring, Petrock said.

Subsequent to the ordinance being adopted, the County plans to adopt an excise tax at a 5 percent rate, and that will be voted on by the residents of Gilpin County.

During public comment, seven county residents and Sheriff Bruce Hartman spoke both in favor of and against the ordinance. Donna Okray Parman said she is not opposed to medical marijuana, but the town of Nederland has three major grow operations and residents complain of the smell. Bruce Parman said that, if the county is going to allow grow operations, they should work to keep them in commercial areas.

Elvin Snyder asked how much water the grow operations will use compared to citizens in the community. Property values will go down near the grow areas, and the crime rate will go up. In Denver and Aurora, places have been broken into, because they have a lot of plants there and it’s just there for the taking. He wouldn’t want one in his area because property values will go down and the smell is horrendous.

Joseph Duffy said: “I’m against marijuana totally. People are addicted to it and dependent on it, and I didn’t vote for it. I certainly don’t want it in my backyard. I would like to see it put to a vote to all the citizens to see if they want it or not. When I take too many showers, I’m sucking sand, and I am concerned about the water usage.”

Arthur Gallegos said he is angry about this issue. He has 13-year-old grandchild in a lot of trouble because of marijuana. “The Federal government calls it illegal. I’m very angry at the state. Teen-agers just want to get high. I have people in my driveway smoking this crap. To me it has no business in the public. I’m sorry for the Sheriff’s Department that has to enforce it.”

Claire Gallegos said she has personal experience with grow houses and they are a lot of trouble. It starts out as medicine and it turns into poison. She is tired of people who say since she is from Colorado she must have pot, instead of saying Colorado is a beautiful place to be.

Norma Jones said she has been involved with marijuana grow shops, and they are very well established. They follow state laws and are clean places with restricted access and outstanding security. “I’d rather have that next to me than a liquor store with all the people coming and going. They employ only a few people, who are licensed, responsible people.”

Roger Guzman, with Coyote Liquors, said he had lived up here for 20 years and marijuana has been here for six years. He’s had only one incident and never had an issue with cops.

He has a grow operation that backs up to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, so many sheriffs and police officers are securing that area. He’s had only one incident in 15 years at the liquor store and feels that marijuana is a good revenue source for the future.

Sheriff Bruce Hartman questioned section 2.11 under the ordinance provisions stating that Gilpin County personnel will be entitled to inspect the property where marijuana will be cultivated, grown or produced at reasonable times upon prior notice of the property owner. He would like to see a time frame that is adequate for prior notice. “I would think 24 hours would be reasonable and would give everyone time.”

Following public comment, Board Chair Gail Watson said that she wanted to address some of the concerns. “I hear, ‘No grow house in my backyard,’ and I agree. The Commissioners have looked into regulating where grow operations can be.”

One will be allowed in the south of the county, one in the middle and one in the north to prevent what happened in Nederland, where they are close together. They will be on commercial property, Watson said.

“We all can tell a grow because it smells like a skunk,” Watson said. Growers are now able to put ventilation units on that to eliminate that smell. Zoning issues are not nailed down yet, and the Planning Commission is working on those.

Watson appreciated the Sheriff’s comments on timing. Now growers will have to have a certificate of occupancy for the area marijuana is growing, so they won’t have house fires, and it takes care of a lot of those problems. “Marijuana is legal in the state of Colorado, and this county went overwhelmingly ‘yes’ for legalizing marijuana.

“We wanted to do something that has zoning and little more control, and we will ask in November for a 5 percent excise tax. It will be bring in some revenue, maybe a quarter of a million is the top estimate,” Watson said.

Commissioner Linda Isenhart said that, of the three spots they’ve been talking about for grows, only one has been actually looked upon, and they have not heard any interest from anyone else. The growers will be bringing in their own water and recycling the water, so it won’t affect the water table. State-of-the-art filtering takes worries down a little bit.

“This will give the Sheriff more muscle, so they can go in and enforce these things and help the county to regulate these,” Isenhart said. “We are discouraging the sale in unincorporated Gilpin County. Each of us have family issues, but we need to sit these kids down and talk to them.”

Commissioner Ron Engles made a motion to approve the ordinance with the addition of inspecting the property where marijuana will be cultivated, grown or produced at reasonable times upon 24 hour prior written notice of the property owner. The Board approved the motion.

Petrock added that in addition to having to obtain a license, potential growers will have to receive approval from the Planning Commission and County Commission, so there will be plenty of opportunity for input before a license is granted.

Isenhart said that there will be no neon signs on the buildings saying that they are growing marijuana here. Watson said: “It will be safer than what we have now. In our subdivisions, where we know they are growing already, this will be better.”

(Originally published in the July 20, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)