Warren council delays vote on pot grower’s bid

Patrick Rimoshytus wants zoning change to allow large-scale production in certain areas

By Ted Hayes
Posted 8/17/17

A Warren man’s hope to open a large scale marijuana growing operation in Warren has been put on hold for at least another month.

At their meeting last Tuesday, the Warren Town Council voted …

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Warren council delays vote on pot grower’s bid

Patrick Rimoshytus wants zoning change to allow large-scale production in certain areas

Posted

A Warren man’s hope to open a large scale marijuana growing operation in Warren has been put on hold for at least another month.
At their meeting last Tuesday, the Warren Town Council voted unanimously to continue discussion on a zoning request by Patrick Rimoshytus until next month’s meeting. Mr. Rimoshytus, a medical marijuana patient, caregiver and activist, wants the council to adjust its zoning ordinances to specifically allow for commercial marijuana cultivation and production in some parts of town. Council members wanted more time to process documents on the matter given to them by the Warren Planning Board, town planner and chief of police four days earlier.
“I’m hopeful,” Mr. Rimoshytus said when asked his thoughts about last week’s meeting.

What does the Warren police chief think of commercial marijuana cultivation in Warren?

Mr. Rimoshytus was the owner of the former Green Cross of Rhode Island medical marijuana club on Metacom Avenue. While that establishment was legal he said Warren, like many towns, does not specifically address the cultivation of medical marijuana in its zoning ordinances. For that reason, certain growers who want to cultivate within the town limits cannot:
“What happens is when people who want to grow call the building official, he can’t sign off on it because it’s outside of zoning.”
His proposed ordinance changes would add some larger scale cultivation of medical marijuana into accepted uses in commercial, industrial and manufacturing zones, with a special use permit. It would apply to co-ops, which are more than five licensed growers under one roof, licensed medical marijuana patient caregivers, and compassion centers, with a special use permit required for safety and town accounting purposes.
At Tuesday’s meeting, council members heard from state officials, including representatives from the Department of Business Regulation and Attorney General, who advised them on what they currently allow under state regulations.
Norman Birenbaum, from the department of business regulation, said the state offers large scale cultivation licenses as a way to minimize the effect of the “black or grey” market for medical marijuana in Rhode Island.
“It is very important for us to supply the market through a regulated means,” he said, adding that the state will not issue licenses to prospective growers unless their plans are approved by the municipality in which stye wish to grow.
“We defer completely to the municipality,” he said. “We will not issue a license until you approve it, until we have a CO (certificate of occupancy) from the town.”
Currently, he said, the state allows three different “tiers” of licenses, based on the size of the growing operation: Either 2,500, 5,000 or 10,000 square feet. There are 15,000 and 20,000 square foot tiers in the works, he said, but they are not yet available.
This week, Mr. Rimoshytus said he would be operating under the 2,500 square foot tier, “and it probably wouldn’t even be all of that space,” he said. There would be no retail sale of marijuana at the facility; just production, he said.
While councilors listened to state presentations for more than an hour, they said later that a host of new information — including prospective zones and other recommendations by the planning board, as well as a response from the chief of police — deserves more time to be digested before they make a decision on whether to adjust zoning and allow growing operations. So, they voted to continue the discussion until next month. When councilors asked Warren Town Solicitor Anthony Desisto what would happen then if they decide to go forward with the request, he explained that if councilors agree to adopt an ordinance change, a first reading of that change could be ready for October, with a public hearing and second reading vote set for November.
There is one other possibility, he joked:
“The only other thing that could happen is that the whole thing goes up in smoke.”

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