The Redmond City Council unanimously approved to extend the temporary ban of medical marijuana collective gardens in Redmond by another six months, after no one commented at Tuesday’s public hearing at City Hall.
With council members Pat Vache and John Stilin not present at the meeting, the council voted 5-0 to extend the moratorium on the collective gardens by an additional six months as city officials await the outcome of November’s vote on legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
Late last year, the council approved the first six-month moratorium on marijuana collective gardens to give city staff time to study the gray-area state law concerning collective gardens and the impacts they could have on the community before recommending any type of regulations.
Current state law allows marijuana collective gardens for up to 10 qualifying medical patients to organize and form a collective cannabis garden containing up to 15 plants per person and a cap total of 45 plants.
In November, state residents will vote on a measure to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The November election will hopefully provide some clarity to the state law so Redmond can institute rules and regulations for marijuana collective gardens in the city, according to Council Vice President Hank Margeson.
“We extended the moratorium to allow us more time to study the issue and to see what comes from the November election,” Margeson said. “We had hoped that the Legislature would provide us clearer direction during the last short session and when it wasn’t resolved we realized we needed more time to develop a policy for community gardens. Our hope is that with some clarity from the November election we’ll be in a better position to determine how best to resolve this issue for Redmond.”