Community Development Director Paul Andrus

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

New Mexico has legalized cannabis but there are still procedural boxes to check and issues to consider before ribbons can be snipped to open cannabis businesses.

Locally, the Los Alamos County Community Development Department is responding to the legalization of cannabis by proposing a text amendment to Chapter 16 in the County Code, which addresses development.

County Planning Manager Bryce Ternet

The Planning and Zoning Commission will consider the proposed changes during its 5:30 p.m. July 28 meeting in Council Chambers at the Municipal Building, 1000 Central Ave. Its recommendation is expected to go to Los Alamos County Council for consideration in August.

According to a County press release, the proposed amendment includes definitions and local regulations for cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facilities as well as retail establishments.

These regulations could be establishing a minimum distance between cannabis cultivation and manufacturing and retail businesses. Additionally, cannabis retail stores could be permitted to allow on-site designated indoor and outdoor cannabis vaping and smoking areas.

Other proposed changes are amending the Use Table Index to include cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facilities and cannabis retail establishments and then identifying within which zoning districts of the County these uses are permitted, require special use permit, or are not permitted.

“We want to get this initial information out so people don’t get alarmed; we are following state rules,” Community Development Director Paul Andrus said during an interview Monday with the Los Alamos Daily Post. “Ultimately if council wants to adopt regulations that vary from the state that will be their call.”

He added that it’s an issue for which the County wants to make residents have the latest information.

“We want people to be informed,” Andrus said. “It’s something for folks to be mindful of.”

One thing that should be considered is where in the County the manufacturing and sale of cannabis should or should not occur, County Planning Manager Bryce Ternet said. He pointed out that any type of cannabis business should not be located near schools and there are regulations on the distance between any cannabis manufacturing or sale and religious institutions.

However, cannabis manufacturing might be permissible in other (heavier commercial) areas; for example, on DP Road, Ternet said. Also, retail businesses can be anticipated to be in the downtown area. The density of how many cannabis businesses can go in permitted areas needs to be considered, too, he said.
Andrus said there has been some interest voiced in having local cannabis businesses.

Ternet pointed out that some see it as an opportunity to help fill the vacant storefronts around town, particularly in the downtown area.

“We would like to hear public input on the potential density in downtown,” he said.

There can be no limits or some limits, Ternet said; there is no magic number.

“We have the opportunity now to establish where these uses are permitted,” he said.

While there has been some interest in cannabis businesses, there also have been some concerns voiced, Andrus said.

“I’m aware of people’s concerns that somehow the use itself, after a long time of being illegal, will have a negative impact,” he said.

Everything regarding the legalization of cannabis from the state level down to the county level is still in the early stages.

According to a recent County press release, the state’s Cannabis Control Division is expected to start accepting applications for producers, microbusiness producers, and from medical cannabis businesses Sept. 1. Applications for a license to operate any other type of cannabis business will begin being accepted Jan. 1, 2022. The date that legal sales can start should be determined no later than April 1, 2022.

Andrus said applying for business licenses for cannabis should be similar to applying for a liquor license.

Applicants will need to receive state and local licenses.

“It’s all new – we are all working through this and making sure we are working with what is coming out of the state and other communities,” Andrus said.