Marijuana moratorium could be extended

Concerned that the White-fish City-County Planning Board was not in synch with them on drafting a zoning ordinance for medical marijuana, the Whitefish City Council directed staff on March 1 to bring back the urgency ordinance limiting the new industry so it can be extended for another six months.

"I'd hate to see the planning board go a long way in a direction we're not going," councilor Turner Askew said, adding that it's a countywide problem and Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan would soon be weighing in on the matter.

"We need to help the planning board understand what we want," councilor Chris Hyatt said.

Councilor Phil Mitchell said he wanted to meet with the planning board before the draft ordinance is brought to the council "or else we would be working backward."

The moratorium, which limits medical marijuana businesses in Whitefish to home occupations with three patients or less, will expire on June 7.

City planning director David Taylor said he was directed by the council to draft a zoning ordinance and bring it back before the moratorium expired. He said the planning board had already held two work sessions and would hold a public hearing on the draft ordinance before it came back to the council.

Planning board member Ken Stein told the council that he and others on the board understood the confusion.

"The draft we came up with is what we came up with if we had to come up with one," he explained.

Councilor Ryan Friel, who was in the minority, said he wanted the planning board to continue with its assignment and draft a zoning ordinance for the council to look at.

The council also directed staff to schedule a work session with the planning board on the medical marijuana zoning ordinance.