On Jan. 26, the Cache County Council will hold a public hearing to discuss changes to local land use ordinances that would allow the cultivation of medical marijuana in Cache Valley (Photo courtesy of Greenhouse Product News)
CACHE COUNTY – The Cache County Council is contemplating changes to local ordinances that would allow cultivation of cannabis in Cache Valley.
A public hearing on the proposed change to Title 17 of the Cache County Land Use Ordinance is set for the council’s next regular meeting on Jan. 26.
The provisions of proposed Ordinance 2021-01 would bring local land use guidelines into compliance with State Code governing the Utah Medical Cannabis Program, according to county officials.
Although recreational use of marijuana (also know as cannabis) remains illegal throughout Utah, cannabis oil and the medicinal use of marijuana recently became legal under certain circumstances.
State law now permits the growing of cannabis in Utah by licensed growers. Their products can then be distributed from state-regulated dispensaries at the recommendation of physicians who are registered with the Utah Department of Health.
Under the proposed county ordinance, a licensed and permitted cannabis production establishment could only be located in an agricultural or industrial zone in the unincorporated areas of Cache County.
The minimum lot size for a hypothetical cannabis facility will be 10 acres. The location of such a facility must also have “reasonable separation” from areas zoned for residential and other incompatible land uses.
Under the proposed ordinance, the actual cultivation of the cannabis plants must take place within an enclosed permitted structure on a permanent foundation.
The ordinance also stipulates that such cannabis greenhouses must use “an air filtration and ventilation system with odor mitigation technology … to prevent odors generated from the facility from escaping onto neighboring properties.”
The technologies recommended by county officials for odor mitigation include activated carbon filtration, electrostatic precipitation and negative ion generation.
The odor reduction effort must be sufficiently effective that “the odor (from the cultivation facility) cannot be reasonably detected by a person of normal sensitivity at the property line,” according to the proposed ordinance.
Medical conditions for which Utah physicians can prescribe medical marijuana use include HIV or AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, Epilepsy, Multiple sclerosis, Autism and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, among others.
Under Utah’s medical marijuana statutes, the smoking of cannabis is prohibited, as are edible products like brownies, cookies and candy. Cannabis is commonly available from state dispensaries in the form of tablets, capsules, concentrated oil, salves and wax or resin. Medical marijuana in flower form can be legally vaped in Utah, however.
Proposed Ordinance 2021-01, amending Chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Title 17 of the Cache County Land Use Ordinance, has already been favorably reviewed by County Attorney John Luthy, Development Services Director Chris Harrild, County Planner Angie Zetterquist and the member of the County Planning Commission.