BEND, OR -- It's been a year since marijuana land use regulations have been enacted for Deschutes County, and as promised, the Commissioners are reviewing the rules' effectiveness.
Matthew Martin, Senior Planner for Deschutes County, says they want to hear from all impacted parties. "The intent of the regulations is to address the impact of, in this case, production or growing. To address lighting, odor, noise and other related impacts. So, the effort was to mitigate those impacts, and what we're interested in hearing from the public is how those regulations are working, and if they're not effective, what are suggested changes to make them more effective?"
The County has a survey section on their website ... deschutes.or/marijuana ... that Martin says is open for public input until November 30th, and the findings will be presented to the Board in early December. "So, we've just kicked off this evaluation process. The Board was recognizing that this is a new industry, and a new set of regulations. So, with both being at the infancy of implementation, now's the opportunity to check in and determine how it's going. What's working, and what's not."
Martin says because these rules are still largely untested, now's the time to improve them. "Well, it's important to hear from all interested parties, and impacted parties, as to how the rules are working and as we compile the feedback that we receive, we'll report to the Board of County Commissioners in early December on our findings, and see what direction they provide at that point."
The County's Community Development Department will also be conducting stakeholder interviews and focus groups with both marijuana representatives and their neighbors.
