At a special meeting of the Cottonwood City Council on Oct. 22, the council voted 4-3 in favor of new regulations on the sales of recreational marijuana within city limits, in advance of Proposition 207, legalizing the recreational use of marijuana within the state of Arizona, that was on the ballot on Nov. 3.
While the final votes of the Nov. 3 election have not been fully tallied, returns suggest that Proposition 207 will pass with nearly 60% of the statewide vote.
The city fast-tracked the proposed regulation to ensure that it would be voted on in advance of the election in order to make sure that the regulations were in place before any businesses started taking action based on the ballot initiative, according to Cottonwood Community Development Director Scott Ellis.
The first reading and discussion of the new ordinance was held on Oct. 20, with the second and final reading along with the vote just two days later. The Planning and Zoning Commission had previously given unanimous approval to the regulations.
“What we’re looking to do is incorporate this with our medical marijuana act and do a dual-license facility,” Ellis said, adding that this would mean no changes to the regulations on medical marijuana facilities. “If you have the medical, you can have the retail, but you can’t have the retail without the medical.
“This isn’t going to allow a dual-license with the cultivation. They would have to be a medical facility first. But you can have a medical facility and a cultivation in the same place. So at the end of the day you really could have all three, at that one location that exists with cultivation now.”
“I don’t like the idea of it at all, but under the current legislation, I think our best bet is to do the dual license to keep down the number of dispensaries that we may have in the city and hopefully keep it to the one — it’s currently just outside the city limits,” Councilman Doug Hulse said on Oct. 20. “I’m not in favor at all of a standalone dispensary to dispense for recreational use.”
Councilwomen Tosca Henry, Debbie Wilden and Jackie Nairn were the three dissenting votes, arguing that if state voters approve of the sale of recreational marijuana, the city should not stand in the way of businesses trying to act on it, and allow for recreational facilities without needing to also get medicinal licenses.
“Personally, I’m not in favor of recreational marijuana itself, but I have zero interest in regulating the economic revenue that private businesses can generate from this statewide initiative,” Henry said.
“If it’s done legally, I’d hate for the city to not share in the revenue, though we’re going to be sharing in the use,” Wilden said.
