Residents still waiting for marijuana operation resolution
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POLSON — Controversy over a building in Polson’s South Hills area that’s apparently housing a medical marijuana growing operation remains unresolved, as county officials have yet to determine exactly what is happening at the site.
Lake County Commissioner Paddy Trusler said county commissioners recently met with the deputy county attorney to discuss the issue, and Trusler thinks “there will be resolution soon.”
Until it’s clear what operations are taking place in the building, it’s uncertain whether the activity is illegal or not. Marijuana is being grown in the building, Trusler said, and the tenants appear to be running a “medical marijuana repackaging business.”
Running such a business out of the building at 35647 South Hills Drive might be prohibited by county zoning laws, Lake County Planning Director Joel Nelson said, but he’s still waiting on a response from the people heading up the marijuana operation as to what exactly their business entails.
“The (business) owners, as we understand it, are out-of-state,” Trusler said, and the owner appears to be an LLC, according to Nelson.
The people running the marijuana operation don’t own the building; they’re leasing it, Trusler added.
The property in question is zoned “highway commercial,” which means only certain uses of the building are allowed. Once Nelson finds out what’s actually happening in the building, the county planning department will try to classify the operation under county codes. If medical marijuana is being cured and processed in the building, the business might fall under a tobacco stemming and drying code or a botanical drug manufacturing code, Nelson explained. Both of those types of operations fall into an industrial, not commercial, classification, and the property isn’t zoned for industrial purposes.
Meanwhile, local residents are doing all they can to fight the presence of marijuana — legal or not — in their neighborhood.
The South Hills Homeowners Association shut off the building’s water supply after the residents exceeded their allowed water usage for the past couple of months, said Dennis Lewis, president of the South Hills Homeowners Association. Lewis said residential water users have to sign a contract saying they won’t use more than 11,000 to 14,000 gallons of water a month, but the marijuana growers were using anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 gallons a month.
“(And) it’s our private wells,” Lewis said.
The homeowners association’s attorney, Clinton Fischer, said he had no comment on the issue.
While Lewis says he’s not against medical marijuana, he is against having it in his neighborhood and believes that Montana law doesn’t have enough regulations to properly control the medical marijuana program.
“All we care about is getting (the marijuana growers) out of our neighborhood,” Lewis said.
