Job of Marijuana Task Force remains unfinished

The Marijuana Task Force in Colorado Springs was scheduled to have its sixth and final meeting Friday or at least thought it would.

Because it was unable to reach an agreement on several key matters, the group will meet again on March 14, a week before it’s scheduled to present recommendations to the City Council.

At issue is considering stronger regulations, and strict enforcement of them, for certain aspects of the marijuana industry, specifically for so-called “home grows.”

According to authorities, dozens of people are growing far above the legal limit of 12 plants per home, creating health risks and fire hazards.

Whether to limit home grows to commercial or industrial zones is what the task force wants to discuss further.

“As the fire code official, I have a problem with separating what is a residence that we’re supposed to live, eat and sleep in, versus something that is a greenhouse (where) we’re growing things,” said Brett Lacey, the city fire marshal and task force member.

Pamela Bennett lives next door to a grow house and attended the task force meeting for the second time.

“I want to control grow houses,” she said. “We have no control over them, or the smell or the activity.”

But task force member Charles Houghton said the situation may be less serious than many people think.

“Just because we have the opportunity to change things doesn’t mean we have to,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves if we’re proposing these changes solely because they’re in marijuana.”

The 14-member task force began meeting last December to review, study, develop, evaluate and review laws and regulations pertaining to marijuana businesses.

The group’s scope includes location and licensing criteria, fees, advertising and other time, place, manner and number regulations.