Putting it down in writing is just what a Pauls Valley group did when it comes to being able to address just about all aspects of medical marijuana activity inside the local city limits.
All five members of the PV City Council completed its quest to formally create a new section of city ordinances for the legal use of marijuana here.
The action came just a couple of weeks after the council initially voted to prohibit commercial medical marijuana grow operations inside of Pauls Valley’s city boundaries.
For council members the decision to approve the new ordinances was a no-brainer after the action was recently recommended by the Pauls Valley Planning and Zoning Commission.
Both City Manager James Frizell and council member Jonathan Grimmett backed up the move citing the need for city authorities to be able to deal with marijuana issues close to home.
“It’s more for us and will help us police it,” Frizell said.
“It’s not so much for what we have now; it’s more of a preventative thing,” Grimmett said about the fresh set of ordinances.
The very first part of the ordinances is the specifics for legal marijuana dispensaries inside of Pauls Valley, which right now total six.
It requires these establishments to obtain a retail permit and a business license from the city of Pauls Valley.
No permits will be given to dispensaries located outside a commercially zoned area in the city.
There are also location restrictions, such as no dispensaries will be located within 300 feet of any library, museum, public playground or park, childcare center, pool, correctional facility or substance abuse rehabilitation center, another dispensary or within 1,000 feet of any local school.
The conditions of operation for dispensaries are also listed, such as they will be equipped with a ventilation and air filtration system so that no marijuana odors are detectable off premises and the specific hours of operation are to be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days
Dispensaries will be required to be closed on Sundays and holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th and New Year’s Day.
Along with commercial grow houses, other marijuana facilities not allowed in Pauls Valley are those for wholesale, storage or processing purposes.
During the recent meeting the council also heard from Assistant City Manager Don Wageman about the issue of legally growing small amounts of medical marijuana in town for personal use.
“It’s voluntary,” Wageman said about residents with medical marijuana cards being required to get permits to grow no more than six mature and six smaller plants at home.
“They can’t have them on the porch. They can’t be in the back yards. They’ve got to be inside.
“We may not even charge a fee. We don’t know how many we have in town,” he said about the number of residents who could legally grow some plants at their homes.
“We don’t have anything in commercial sales inside the city limits.”
If any fees are required for those getting home grow permits it will be addressed later by the council.
