By Dave Hawkins – Independent Staff Writer
Prospective entrepreneurs are scouting locations to establish and operate medical marijuana dispensaries in northwest Arizona. Voters approved the Medical Marijuana Act last fall, but implementation of law has been delayed because of legal concerns it might conflict with federal law.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has approved medical marijuana cards for nearly 7,000 applicants, but they won’t be issued until the legal issues between the state and federal government are resolved in court.
A number of individuals interested in setting up a medical marijuana dispensary in Kingman have lodged inquiries with Kingman City officials.
“We’ve had discussions with potential people who want to apply for dispensaries,” said Kingman City Development Services Director Gary Jeppson. “We’ve provided a map showing an area of the City that allows for dispensaries.
Jeppson said Gary Frye, of the Phoenix-based Healing Company, has asked whether a building located at 2851 East Airway Avenue is properly suited for a dispensary and in compliance with a Medical Marijuana Act-related ordinance adopted by the City of Kingman. Jeppson informed Frye in a May 10 correspondence that the property in question would meet requirements as a dispensary host, provided some fencing is established.
“The building at 2851 E. Airway Avenue meets all of the criteria for a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation site when a solid partition, set back eight (8) feet in the northwest corner of the building, is constructed to assure the spacing of 500 feet from a residential zoning district,” Jeppson said in his letter.
Kingman realtor Michael Seitz said the building, that was once a butcher shop, is available for lease at $1,500 a month. Seitz declined to indicate who owned the property, indicating he had a “fiduciary responsibility” to his client.
Email inquiries to the Healing Company website were ignored.
More proprietary inquiries of record are noted in Lake Havasu City. Zoning Administrator Stuart Schmeling has informed a “Mr. Williams” that parcels at 1050 and 1100 N. Lake Havasu Avenue would be suitable locations for a dispensary.
Schmeling has informed Joel Williams that a parcel at 1575 Dover Lane would also comply with dispensary location requirements. Schmeling said each of the three sites on N. Lake Havasu and Dover Lane could also be used for cultivation, provided Conditional Use Permit applications were approved.
The same applies for Mary Jo Kirk’s inquiries related to parcels at 790 and 1050 N. Lake Havasu Avenue, and also for Terry Wiesner’s inquiry about 1575 Dover Lane and Mike Danzer’s about 1691 Industrial Boulevard.
More than 100 dispensary location-related inquiries have been fielded by Bullhead City officials since last November. City spokesman Steve Johnson said only five of those were considered “serious.”
Johnson did not provide the names of those who inquired, or the locations they asked about.
July 22nd, 201112:32 pm
