By Teresa L. Benns
SAGUACHE–At a special meeting Monday, Saguache County Commissioners announced they need more time to fine tune the marijuana regulations before releasing them to the public and extended the marijuana moratorium until Aug. 21, when the final copy of the regulations will be officially released.
Commissioners also said they wished to further review actual changes to the code.
Crestone resident Lisa Cyriacks argued the copy of the current revised regulations, which Commissioner Chair Jason Anderson said has mainly typographical errors commissioners would like to correct, should be released as is to the public. After arguing back and forth with Cyriacks and consulting County Attorney Ben Gibbons, commissioners agreed to post the regulations to the county website sometime before the Aug. 21 meeting.
Posting of minutes for commissioner meetings typically has lagged for as long as two months. The last posting of minutes currently is for July 3.
Cyriacks went on to express her displeasure that the county has not been transparent in its dealings with county residents regarding the changes to the marijuana regulations. She further reminded commissioners the regulations affect everyone in the county.
Commissioners did tell J. LeBlanc that they addressed the variances in the regulations, limiting the recreational plant count to 12 and the plant count for medical card holders to 24 as required by state law. Commissioner J. Anderson did add, however, that cardholders could obtain a variance from the county for the 24 plant limit if they presented it to commissioners during a public meeting.

Regulations revisions
 work session
During a work session to discuss the final revisions to the marijuana/ land use code regulations last Thursday, Saguache County Commissioners and Saguache County Planning Commission (SCPC) members met to hash out details of the changes going into the code. Highlights of the meeting are included below.
SCPC member Ellen Cox commented that she feels the public is becoming more educated regarding marijuana sales and cultivation. Where people were adamant in the beginning, she said, they now realize the county is doing the best that it can and is not there to make life miserable for them. Basically she declared progress has been made in the general attitude toward multiple grows in the county.
Mark Swinney, an SCPC alternate, said he was “shocked” at how different the atmosphere was at the public hearing compared to what it had been earlier this year, when large crowds packed the commissioners room and the Road and Bridge building to protest grows in their neighborhoods.
SCPC member Bill McClure dismissed those protesting pot cultivation and sales as “teabaggers,” maintaining they are not people “who have been here a long time. They are the same ones [spreading] the same misinformation.”
“Just because they don’t come to meetings doesn’t mean they are not opposed,” SCPC alternate Daniel Davis told McClure.
SCPC members Lyn Thompson and Jeff Shook complained that the conditional land use permit regulations are “different” for marijuana cultivators because it requires growers build a residence on the property in order to grow. Those attending seemed to favor modification of the residence rule, perhaps replacing it with a requirement that an office be built.
Variances were urged for those with PTSD who are extracting marijuana juice and need a higher plant count to treat their condition.
Boundaries between neighboring properties and setback distances were discussed and could possibly be adjusted. School bus stop issues also were reviewed. The general atmosphere in the meeting was that the opposition to marijuana cultivation has died down and the growth rate of applications will naturally slow now that California and other states have legalized pot.
A cap on marijuana applications was suggested by Commissioner Tim Lovato but was not well received.