Gresham Marijuana Dispensary: When a yes is really a no

The City of Gresham has been relatively opposed to allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to open within their limits. While located in a friendly county, Gresham has taken their time in  determining how they were going address the ending of the 1531 moratorium. Even though Gresham voted in favor of 91, decisions around time, place and manner have been slow to come. Earlier this week they took a final vote and weed is finally coming (hasn’t it been there all along?) to Gresham.

Click here to view the map of permitted zones and the red-lined ordinance.

Here are the parameters:

– $250 to apply for a business license

– $5000.00 application fee and renewal fee paid on top of the $4000.00 required by OHA. These fees are non-refundable.

– All employees, not just the PRF will be subject to a background check.

– Only allowable zoning is commercial, industrial and mixed-use. However, if that zoning also has residential use then a dispensary is disallowed. See map above.

– The city will perform their own inspections on facilities above and beyond the OHA inspections. THIS MAY INCLUDE YOUR BOOKS AND RECORDS and whatever else they come up with.

– There are insurance and indemnification requirements.

– There will be lighting and waste requirements.

– Home occupation is prohibited. I will address this in a later blog post. This really is aimed at cultivation which is also addressed in this legislation.

– Gresham intends to do a deep dive into the owners and funders of facilities. They are requiring disclosure not only of the PRF but of all owners and funders- including lenders. Additionally Gresham wants to know who owns the real property being used.

– They will be asking for a business plan type disclosure. Gresham wants to know exactly what you plan to sell and how those products are cultivated or produced.

– They will require a plan to control odor prepared by a design specialist.

There is much more buried in the legislation so please feel free to call us with further questions. That being said, I consider this a NO. While Gresham is a prime spot for a dispensary and for indoor cultivation, this city should be a wait and see for entrepreneurs. The legislation is reactionary and intrusive. They want too much access and it is far too invasive (who knows who will be doing the training for inspectors or what kind of broad discretion they might have). As a criminal lawyer I never feel very good about having so much information gathering happening without a warrant or true good cause.

Finally, because we are not sure what the Oregon Legislature is going to do this session, or OLCC will do during rule-making, it is very possible that a disclosure made in this process could be prohibitive for getting a recreational license. And, there is really no guarantee that Gresham will even allow recreational stores to operate.

(I will be writing another post about cultivation in Gresham which is significantly addressed in the legislation as well)