REDMOND, OR -- Redmond voters could decide what restrictions - if any - they want if marijuana-related businesses ever become legal in the city. "The only reason we don’t have dispensaries in Redmond is because we have a requirement that every business has to comply with federal law," Mayor Ed Fitch told KBND News. He told City Councilors this week, "Sometime in the future, it may come to be that Congress will decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. If they do and we do not have time, place and manner regulations on paper and in the wing, they could go anywhere in town, except as prohibited by state law."

Fitch has supported allowing cannabis businesses to open in Redmond but admits it shouldn't be a free-for-all, "I think a more measured approach is: let’s determine what makes sense for this community and let the voters decide whether they agree with that." He acknowledges voters in the city narrowly opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana when Measure 91 passed statewide in 2014, "We’ve changed a lot in the last six, seven years," he tells KBND News, "So, [we’d be] giving the voters an opportunity to make a decision on that specifically, whether there should be dispensaries now that it is legal in Oregon. For me, the primary issue is access for adults and those who need it for medical purposes." Numerous residents have spoken at recent Council meetings in opposition to allowing dispensaries to open in Redmond.

The city attorney and staff are working to create Time, Place and Manner guidelines. Fitch expects a draft in the next month or two, "If Congress ever did change that controlled substance schedule, we would be ready to have the regulations in place so that it’s not wide open."