Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
After giving unanimous approval on a conditional use permit for a Garfield resident to grow marijuana under the state’s I-502 law, the town’s Board of Adjustment met again last Tuesday, July 22, to determine the conditions to be listed on the permit.
The two items attached to Debra Lantzy’s permit have to do with criminal activity and waste water.
Voting unanimously again, the board deemed that if there are three police reports in one year’s time directly connected to criminal activity at the property, then the board will review the permit. Also, if any marijuana residue washes into the town’s waste water system, the board will review the permit.
The property in question has a septic system.
“Since I don’t think waste water is going be an issue, I don’t have a problem with that (restriction) being there,” said Lantzy.
During the information-gathering period for Lantzy’s conditional use permit request, Garfield Public Works Superintendent Robby Johnson submitted a statement. In it, he cited concern about the amount of byproducts that could potentially enter the sewer system, “causing a higher than normal B.O.D. (bio-chemical oxygen demand) and T.S.S. (total suspended solids) loading on the town sewer plant.”
Lantzy now awaits an inspection by the state before she can be granted a license. Her operation would be on land owned by her uncle, Charles Lantzy, at South 10th Street.
“I’m going to guess, in a week or two,” Debra Lantzy said of when the inspection may take place.
In recent weeks, Lantzy modified her original application, citing plans for a 35 x 100-foot building next to an existing barn where she plans to grow her crops. The building would be built on the site where Lantzy had earlier planned to have an outdoor marijuana plot.
In order to be considered by the state for an I-502 marijuana producer license, Lantzy had to first pass the initial licensing process which included a criminal background check, financial evaluation and a review of her operations plan.
Once she qualified, the licensing investigator forwarded the file to state Liquor Control Board’s Enforcement and Education division which conducts inspections.
“A final inspection is done to be sure everything they’ve put on paper is there in real life,” said Mikhail Carpenter, spokesman for the Washington State Liquor Control Board.
If an applicant fails the inspection, they have the option to request another.
“We give them an opportunity to correct mistakes,” Carpenter said.
A total of 130 marijuana producing and processor licenses have been issued so far in Washington.
There is no limit on the amount of growers and processors that may be approved under the I-502 law.
The state license Lantzy hopes to get is called a Tier 2 license which allows for no less than 2,000 square feet of marijuana plant canopy and no more than 10,000.
If Lantzy passes the inspection, she will have completed the last hurdle in what has been a controversial process in Garfield.
“We’re getting everything in line and getting started around here,” Lantzy said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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