The Board of Adjustment doesn’t meet all that often, but when it does, count on the subject matter being controversial to some degree.
Its meeting last week followed in that vein as members were being asked to consider a series of variances surrounding a proposed medical marijuana dispensary to be located on Enterprise Drive.
Staff and board members appeared to have done their due diligence, however, and they focused on the issues at hand. Following the narrow passage by voters of an initiative creating a medical marijuana law in Arizona, the Town of Fountain Hills had no choice but to create zoning regulations for the one dispensary that could open here.
True to their nature, Board of Adjustment members did not waiver in their commitment to those regulations either. We concur with the board’s decision to reject the two major variance requests before it – to change the proposed operating hours and to have an ATM machine on the premises.
The man who was awarded the right to open the town’s only allowed dispensary, Mark Steinmetz, knew what the Fountain Hills regulations were prior to him winning the lottery as it were on possibly opening the facility. The Planning and Zoning Commission as well as the Town Council went through a series of public hearings and public notices as they crafted the dispensary zoning regulations at several meetings.
Mr. Steinmetz might call the town’s ordinance too restrictive, but that’s what the community wanted when it came down to crafting some mandatory rules. There is a large contingent of parents, law enforcement personnel, lawmakers and other citizens who remain wary of the new medical marijuana law and how a dispensary will ultimately impact the fabric of this community. Regulations established by the Town of Fountain Hills need to be held up to minimize any potential negative impacts from a future dispensary.
