The City Council hasn’t decided if it wants to lift the ban on pot shops in Longmont since Council member Jeff Moore was absent from last week’s meeting. However, the Council did accept staff’s recommendation to regulate residential marijuana grows. City Manager Harold Dominguez said the staff fields regular complaints, primarily regarding smells.
When Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment to legalize pot in 2012, the language specifically gave residents the right to grow six plants for personal use. Other cities regulate “home grows” in order to ensure the building code is enforced, control nuisance complaints and for fire/safety reasons.
Erin Fosdick, Senior Planner, said a staff task force recommends the regulation because the City Code does not specifically address growing marijuana. She said the ordinance will be similar to the language approved in Aurora and Lakewood; cultivation must be indoors in a primary residence and the plants must be in a locked area if there are minors in the home. Joan Peck asked how the ordinance would apply to rental properties and Gabe Santos agreed this needed to addressed. It was implied that the ordinance should prohibit renters from growing marijuana, although presumably leases already speak to that issue.
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