At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Mayor Dave Trott called to order a special meeting of the Umatilla City Council. A public hearing was called to consider extending the moratorium on the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries in Umatilla. The hearing closed at 6:39 p.m., and the meeting adjourned at 6:41 p.m.
Within those 11 minutes, the council approved an ordinance to extend the moratorium an additional 120 days. Established in April 2014, the moratorium prevents any medical marijuana dispensaries from opening within the city for the designated time period while the city works on amendments to planning, zoning and business codes to regulate the business. City staff has stressed this is not a ban on those businesses.
City Manager Bob Ward said the Planning Commission has spent months reviewing and revising the commercial zone land use code that will allow for some of those amendments. That plan should go before the city council at the May 5 meeting.
The existing moratorium expires May 1, so the extension gives the city up to four additional months to finalize planning and wait for official information from the state legislature, which is still deciding some regulation. Ward said the process will likely take less than 120 days.
The only non-elected Umatilla resident to speak during the hearing, Steve Rodarte, urged the council to understand the legal requirements, the medical benefits of marijuana and the potential of new business in Umatilla before making a decision.
“There’s people who can really do this properly in the community and serve people well,” Rodarte said. “Really look into this.”
The public hearing and special meeting was followed by a budget committee meeting – including the full city council – at 7 p.m.
