DUBOIS – At Monday night’s meeting, citizen John Tapper spoke up regarding the potential medical marijuana businesses coming to Sandy Township.
Tapper lives along Platt Road in the area of the industrial park where the growing and processing facility may locate to.
Tapper did not state he was opposed to the facility. However, he expressed concerns that if full legalization occurred, it would potentially be easy to convert the medical marijuana facility over for recreational use.
He asked if the facility could be relocated and if the industrial zoning would allow for an operation that included on-site growing.
Tapper argued that the processing facility was a growing operation from seed to mature crop that happened to process the final product. He compared it to having a greenhouse in an industrial zoned area.
The board indicated that industrial zoning best suited the operation. They stated that it was a processing facility that happened to grow the product indoors.
Tapper then asked how the potential medical marijuana facilities came up and was voted on with short notice.
“We couldn’t stop it,” said Supervisor Dave Sylvis. The supervisors explained the township did not have the authority to pass or deny the facility.
The supervisors also noted they could only vote on a letter of support to the businesses, which were attempting to acquire state licenses for medical marijuana facilities.
