By Sue Bergstrom for Valdez City News –
On Thursday, February 18th City Attorney Jake Staser and Director of Community and Economic Development Lisa Von Bargen addressed a packed City Council Chambers to discuss recommended options for commercial marijuana operations in Valdez and take public comment.
Staser began by explaining that personal use of marijuana is legal statewide and the city of Valdez cannot prevent personal use. The city can regulate commercial facilities. He went on to explain the various types of businesses and a little about the licensing process, including fees. A person must be an Alaska resident and pass a background check in order to receive a license for a commercial operation of any kind. License fees are relatively high, ranging from one thousand to five thousand dollars annually The state charges the licensee a fifty dollar excise tax for each ounce of marijuana sold. Local governments receive fifty percent of the licensing fees and may also add fees of their own. It is not recommended that the city charge any additional fees. The reasoning behind this is that this is not done for any other retail business in the city, state levels are already high, there would be a limited return and it would be costly to implement new taxes or fees.
State regulations require that no commercial marijuana operation be within five hundred feet of a school, a recreation or youth center, a place where religious services are conducted regularly, a correctional facility, nor on a liquor licensed premise. Staser went on to explain zoning recommendations for each type of commercial operation and the existing state regulations and methods of enforcement before opening the floor for questions and comment. (link to full presentation)
Positive and negative comments were about equal in number.
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“I have a real problem with the five hundred foot from building to building where the retail facility can be….I think we’ve got a problem here. First of all we need to be morally obligated to protecting our children from something they would be tempted to go into and look at. I know the laws say one thing, but children go in with their parents to these retail establishments.*” – Father Eric Wiseman
“I feel really good about what the state and what the city is doing. I feel like we have a really strong public outreach process throughout this…Whether you support this or not, this all feels a little strange right now because it is new. What I’ve seen throughout this process is there’s a significant amount of checks and balances built in….It feels like we’re stepping into the wild west, but this is not the wild west….This is already happening…We want to have something that’s operating in a more regulatory framework as opposed to what we have now where we don’t really know what we have now.” Jeremy Robida
*There was conversation between an unidentified member of the public and Staser that indicated it is not legal for persons under 21 to be within the restricted area around a retail marijuana establishment.
