By Habit 420

Oregon Cannabis Connection

County approval for a small half-acre marijuana grow and processing site was denied by Yamhill County Commissioners on June 1. The neighboring Momtazi Vineyards, who sell their wine under the label Maysara, had filed an appeal to the county’s earlier approval of the marijuana production and processing license. The commissioners voted 2–1 in favor of stopping the marijuana business.

The commissioners who voted against the farm were opposed to processing in rural areas and instead would prefer that type of business to occur on industrial- or commercially-zoned land.

“There’s a lot of passion on both sides. It’s hard sometimes when you have to separate that passion from the facts,” Commissioner Richard Olsen stated at the hearing. He voted to block the cannabis farm.

He had concerns about the processing facility waste and wastewater … and the possibility of an earthquake’s effect on containment of the wastewater.

Commissioner Mary Starrett voted in support of the cannabis operation, stating at the hearing, “It really is like having to pick and choose what products or what farm crops we’re going to thumbs-up or thumbs-down.”

The Momtazi family, along with another neighboring family, also filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order to force the family to stop all operations and farming activity. That lawsuit was denied.

The Wagner family, who own the property for the marijuana operation, have one last option—to file an appeal to the land use board. They remained undecided on whether to file an appeal at the time of this printing.

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