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Planning Commission approves application for cannabis grow in Globe

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A smattering of Globe residents were on hand last week, when the planning and zoning commission considered an application for a cannabis grow facility at the site of the former bowling alley behind the Holiday Inn Express on Highway 60.

In the end, the commission voted to approve the application and move the matter on to Globe City Council. Additionally, the commission recommended a revision to City Zoning Code 14-5-19-A-5 to allow more than one cannabis-related business within the city limits.

The application was brought to the city by Eli Harding, who has managed two growing facilities in the Valley, one a 60,000 square-foot operation in El Mirage and another an 80,000 square-foot operation in Phoenix.

The proposed Globe facility would be 22,000 square feet in total with only 6,000 used to grow product. The majority of the space would be devoted to state-mandated security as well as offices, air cleaners and other non-growing aspects of the business.

Both Harding and high-profile cannabis attorney Paul Conant enumerated the stringent state regulations to assure the public that the entire project is regulated “to the gram.”

“Security is our foremost concern,” Harding said. “This business is the most regulated in the state, even more so than alcohol.”

Security will include cameras in every room and armed guards 24 hours a day, seven days per week. There will also be a wall around the building so that it is completely blocked from public view, as well as only one entrance into the facility.

The facility will use several air scrubbers — ozone generators and carbon filters like those used in hospitals — to keep odors from disturbing people in the surrounding area. Harding called the filter system “beyond overkill for an operation this size.”

There will even be an on-site sewer treatment system to pre-treat water before it goes into the Globe system to keep fertilizers and any other cannabis-related waste from entering Globe’s wastewater.

The business will employ up to 10 people, including security staff, with more part-time jobs available during harvest. All employees at the facility must pass background checks and drug screenings as part of their employment.

The facility will not dispense product, which negates concerns about people hanging out at the business but was also the reason for the amendment to existing code.

By Arizona statute, there is a 25-mile buffer zone around medicinal cannabis facilities where growing by patients is not allowed.

In April the Green Panda, Globe’s only dispensary, quietly shuttered so the individual growing ban is not in effect in the Globe-Miami area any more. That means anyone with a State of Arizona Department of Health Services medical cannabis authorization can grow up to 12 plants for individual use.

There are no regulations about security, odor or sight control for individual growers, which can lead to additional law enforcement needs in the community.

According to Callopy, it also opens patients up to the possibility of home invasion robberies and other types of crime.

“What if someone breaks into a house because they smell marijuana and it’s the wrong house?” he posited.

And while the growing facility will not put the buffer back in place, the zoning adjustment would allow for a new dispensary to open within city limits.

But Globe Planning and Zoning Commissioner Jan Shumway was concerned about the message the facility would present to the community, agreeing with Globe resident Mark Shellenberger, whose wife Roberta is the school nurse at Copper Rim Elementary School.

“We might not be able to stop it, but maybe we can postpone it,” Shumway said.

Shellenberger expressed concerns about the disintegration of the family unit and the affect that drug abuse has on children in the community he has lived in all his life.

“My wife sees it firsthand,” he said. “I don’t know the numbers, but less than half (of the students) have traditional families.”

Shumway also expressed concern about the cost of medicinal cannabis for patients on fixed incomes and the lack of availability of medication for them.

“I feel the people that need it cannot afford it,” she said.

John Cornell was concerned about security and could “almost guarantee” there would be a break-in at some point. Both Cornell and former Gila County District 2 Supervisor Mike Pastor suggested adding local inspections as a condition of approval.

Callopy said that would not be necessary, but Harding said the business would function with total transparency and encouraged the city to add the condition to his permit.

The bowling alley is owned by the Ellsworth family and estate representative Gerald Ellsworth was on-hand to support the project. There has not been an active business in the building for more than a decade.

Cornell expressed concerns about historical items that might still be in the building that could be lost to posterity when the building is eventually cleaned out. Everything in the building is included in the sale.

“The buyer is willing to take anything out, but the family hasn’t asked,” Ellsworth said, adding that if anyone wants anything for historical purposes, something can probably be arranged.

Both the project and amendments were approved to move on to council in a 3-1 vote.

Globe Planning and Zoning Chair Carmen Corso and commissioners Rosalie Lamentola-Ayala and William Leister voted in favor with Shumway voting against.  Commissioner Carl Williams was absent.

The application and amendments will go before Globe City Council for final approval, most likely on July 24, according to Callopy.