Marijuana cultivation operations will be allowed closer to Bayfield town limits starting Sunday.
In 2013, Bayfield passed a resolution asking La Plata County to ban commercial marijuana cultivation, manufacturing, testing and retail within a 3-mile radius of the town’s borders. The restrictions impacted 1,209 privately owned land parcels in the county.
“Town trustees desire to maintain the current buffer zone for all marijuana businesses, except marijuana cultivation facilities,” said Megan Graham, La Plata County spokeswoman.
The town began to explore changing the buffer zone in 2020 and held a meeting with residents in August. The zone did not regulate hemp operations.
The county was redoing its land-use codes, and hemp growing establishments in the area expressed interest in marijuana cultivation, according to an August staff report by Nancy Dosdall, contract planner for Bayfield.
Residents at the public meeting were split. Some wanted changes, saying county residents don’t get to vote in Bayfield affairs but had to comply with town rules. Others wanted the restrictions to remain unchanged, citing concerns about crime, homelessness and quality of life.
In September, Bayfield passed Resolution 460, asking the county to shrink the zone where marijuana cultivation was banned.
Under the resolution, cultivation will be allowed outside the town’s future growth boundary, identified in its 2018 Comprehensive Plan, which is smaller than the original buffer zone. The 3-mile ban will remain in place for all other marijuana-related land uses.
The town’s resolution said after six years of experience with legal marijuana uses, the town believed legal cultivation facilities would not have a significant impact on local law enforcement.
The county had to change its code to accomplish the request, Graham said. The modification of the buffer zone goes into effect Sunday.
smullane@durangoherald.com
