COSHOCTON – The owner of one Ohio company said she intends to apply for a license to grow medical marijuana in Coshocton, following action by Coshocton City Council this week.
Kimberly Farmer said her Dayton-based firm will apply with the Ohio Department of Commerce for a license to operate a Level I medical marijuana cultivating facility on an unspecified four-to-five acre site inside Coshocton city limits. The company must file that application by June 30 to qualify for consideration.
The state plans to grant only two dozen cultivator licenses throughout Ohio.
Third Ward Councilwoman Jackie Salmans said she supports the use of medical marijuana by patients who suffer from serious diseases and medical conditions, including cancer and seizure disorders. Salmans said her 24-year-old son, a chemical engineer in Georgia, was diagnosed with epilepsy about a year ago, had seizures while living alone and briefly lost his driver’s license.
“His (seizures) are controlled by medicine,” she said. “We’re fortunate with that. Some of these children really have a tough way to go.”
Several companies have expressed interest in establishing a large indoor cultivating facility inside the city, said Dorothy Skowrunski, executive director of the Coshocton Port Authority. A facility would provide between 35 and 70 jobs at an annual payroll of about $2 million, she said. Skowrunski declined to identify the companies or the sites under consideration, citing the confidentiality of negotiations.
Similarly, Farmer declined to identify her company, pending the successful completion of her application and receipt of a license.
Ohio’s Legislature approved medical marijuana production and distribution in 2016, but created a two-year window to establish regulations and procedures. The law took effect Sept. 8. 2016, and the facilities must be operational by Sept. 8, 2018, according to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Board Program web site, medicalmarijuana.ohio.gov.
Cities, villages and townships can decide whether, where and how they want to allow medical marijuana businesses – cultivators, processors, labs and dispensaries – to operate locally.
The state is currently still working out details of many aspects of the new industry.
Under new state regulations. Level I facilities can contain up to 25,000 square feet of cultivation space. Application fees cost $20,000 each, with an initial license fee of $180,000.
Smaller, Level II, facilities can contain up to 3,000 square feet, require a $2,000 application fee and an initial license fee of $18,000.
The state will grant licenses for only 12 facilities of each size. Level I applications are due by June 30; Level II by June 16.
Matt Elam, a spokesman for Farmer’s company, said their proposed local facility initially would employ 15 to 25 workers, but could expand up to 90 at full operation. The facility would be fenced, locked and guarded around the clock, he said.
The medical marijuana would be grown indoors, requiring about 8,000 gallons of water a day, he said. Plans currently also call for applying to process oils on the site, he said.
Coshocton Utilities Director Dave McVey said water usage at that level would not come near replacing the $1.2 million in annual water revenue the city lost when the WestRock paper mill closed in December of 2015.
“I think the chances of replacing a 3-million-gallon-a-day user is unlikely,” he said. “I think we’ll have to recoup that in increments. Eight thousand gallons a day is a start.”
Farmer and Elam attended a special session of City Council Tuesday night, in which the panel voted 6-0 to grant Mayor Steve Mercer and Service Director Max Crown authority to write letters of welcome to companies interested in opening a cultivating facility in Coshocton.
In that same vote Tuesday, council also declared a six-month moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries inside city limits to provide city lawmakers more time to research that issue.
Some city council members have opposed the idea of allowing dispensaries inside the city. The state has not yet established regulations for those facilities.
The letter of welcome must accompany applications for a cultivator license.
“What I am preparing to do is write a generic letter of welcome to the Port Authority,” Mercer said. “The Port can distribute it to any interested company.”
Now, Mercer said he will wait and see what happens.
“There is no further step,” he said. “At this point, we will wait to see if anyone makes an application during the period June 19-30.”
Mercer said the city’s zoning law already allows cultivating facilities inside districts zoned M-2 for manufacturing, and he believes the city’s action “was a good move for Coshocton.”
About 25 residents attended Tuesday’s council meeting, speaking on both sides of the issue.
Proponents touted health benefits for patients not responding to traditional medicines, and economic gains through new jobs, taxes and utility revenue that could be used to improve local services and infrastructure.
Connie Rettos, of Coshocton, said medical marijuana can help cancer patients and people suffering from intestinal disorders eat and feel better, while also earning revenue that could help improve local roads.
“If a cancer patient gets high on medical marijuana, who cares?” asked Michelle Mosbacher of Coshocton. “Is it any better than feeling like crap on opioids?”
Opponents called marijuana a gateway to harder drugs and addiction.
Steve Hall, of West Lafayette, called medical marijuana “a stepping stone to recreational marijuana.”
“It saddens me that this is where we’re at in Coshocton,” he said.
“If we accept this business opportunity, what will we be willing to accept in the near future?” asked Scott Thompson, of Coshocton.
Ohio’s law still prohibits smoking marijuana and growing it for personal use. Only patients suffering from 22 specified medical conditions would be eligible to purchase medical marijuana, and only under the recommendation of a licensed Ohio doctor.
From Coshocton Tribune | June 1, 2017
