The Longmont City Council discussed the city’s ban on recreational and medical dispensaries as well as some other aspects of marijuana legalization Tuesday after public comment from those for and against lifting the ban.

Mayor Dennis Coombs told the audience that the council would not make a decision but only hear information Tuesday night because Councilman Jeff Moore was absent.

The council did reach a consensus that they would like staff to explore regulating home grows after staff recommended they do so. City staff said anecdotally, complaints about grow odors are up.

“I had assumed, foolishly, that there were regulations about these but there aren’t,” Councilwoman Polly Christensen said. “This is a huge problem for rentals, for our housing stock, for neighborhood problems.”

Longmont Finance Director Jim Golden and Assistant City Manager Shawn Lewis presented updated revenue projections. As a methodology, city staff averaged the per-capita revenue numbers from marijuana sales in Adams County, Boulder County, the cities of Boulder and Fort Collins and applied them to Longmont’s population.

Staff updated those projections to include $128,000 in revenue from the state’s share-back program. Staff also updated cost projections, dropping the need for a licensing clerk and upgrading the projected half-time extra police officer to an extra full-time police officer. Updated cost projections would be $113,000 per year.

With those new figures, staff estimate that Longmont could stand to profit between $327,571 and $805,666 from retail marijuana, depending on the sales tax rate.

Jordan Johnson spoke to council during public comment, saying that the projections were still too low.

“These are based on 2015 sales and if you have looked into it, so far into 2016, sales are up 64 percent over 2015,” Johnson said. “So your numbers based on per-capita sales are low.”

Christine Cavalier told the council during public comment that she is a realtor in the area and she thinks Longmont could profit by not allowing dispensaries.

“I chose to move to Longmont to leave the culture of Nevada for this family-friendly culture and many people choose to live in Longmont for that reason,” Cavalier said. “The problem it seems is we’re looking for a way to generate tax revenue without impacting the culture negatively. We could differentiate ourselves from neighboring communities by not allowing dispensaries here.”

The council also briefly discussed what would happen if Longmont annexed the two properties on the edges of city limits where two dispensaries currently sit. Native Roots operates near Sunset Street Bridge while Green Tree Medicinals is located north of Colo. 66, east of Main Street. Both sell medical and recreational marijuana.

Longmont can force an annexation but council members typically heavily prefer that a property owner voluntarily approaches the city with the idea. Owners of the two dispensaries spoke to council Tuesday night.

Josh Ginsberg, owner of Native Roots, spoke to council during public comment with many questions about potential annexation.

“You’re talking about possibly adding four stores to the city. Would those be allowed to be Green Tree and Native Roots and not other stores? We are tucked away and out of the way … so if you do invite more stores into the town, I would apply for another store,” Ginsberg said.

Additionally, Ginsberg said that there have been at least three attempted break-ins at Native Roots in the past two months. He asked that if Native Roots was annexed in and allowed to operate, would Longmont provide the necessary law enforcement staffing?

Councilman Gabe Santos later asked what facilities were doing to protect themselves against break-ins. From the audience, Ginsberg asked, “Do you want me to respond?”

“No,” Santos said. “It’s a rhetorical question.”

Allyson Feiler, owner of Green Tree Medicinals, was more forceful with her comments, which came at the end of the meeting. After Coombs had adjourned the meeting, Feiler spoke up for the audience, asking why the council didn’t call for final public comment. The meeting was reconvened and Feiler railed against the council for banning her business in 2010.

Feiler is operating out of a third location after the first Longmont location was ousted in 2010 when the city banned dispensaries and the second was annexed into the city.

“Every dollar I had went into moving my business and then my landlord, the property owner, agreed to annex into city limits … the city refused to allow me to continue operating my business. I had to let go of 16 employees,” Feiler said, before adding that the city didn’t want to work with her on water or sewer agreements at her current location.

“If Longmont wanted dispensaries, you shouldn’t have banned them. You’re playing with people’s lives,” Feiler said.

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci