Woodland may OK small marijuana work zone

The Woodland City Council appears poised to carve an exception in the hard stance it took against recreational marijuana businesses earlier this month.

On Monday, the councilors will cast their last vote on an ordinance to allow recreational pot growers and processors to establish businesses in a small portion of the city. The council already gave its preliminary stamp of approval to the ordinance on Nov. 17, but nothing is official until the final vote.

The decision will come just 27 days after the council voted 4-2 against permitting growing and processing in Woodland’s heavy industrial areas and pot shops in the city’s highway commercial zone. Councilors Marshall Allen, Scott Perry, Jennifer Heffernan and Benjamin Fredricks voted down the ordinance, while Al Swindell and Susan Humbyrd stood behind it. Marilee McCall was absent.

Since then, the city has maintained another moratorium on recreational pot businesses. The temporary ban — scheduled to expire next month — poses no restrictions on consumption in city limits.

The new ordinance would allow growing and processing in the light and heavy industrial zones west of the railroad tracks while leaving the ban on pot shops in place.

At the Nov. 17 meeting, everyone but councilors Fredricks and McCall supported the new ordinance. Many Woodland residents have spoken out against the idea of permitting pot businesses in the city, and Fredricks has argued that the industry doesn’t belong in the city, noting that most Woodland voters opposed Initiative 502 in the 2012 election.

The councilors set the current moratorium in motion in May. At the time, Mayor Grover Laseke and several councilors said they needed more time to work out the fine details of zoning regulations for marijuana businesses.

Also in the spring, Laseke urged the Liquor Control Board to turn down an applicant for a retail license in the city. Laseke expressed concerns about the federal ban on the drug, and some of the councilors have done the same.