Hennessey modeled its medical marijuana growing laws after Kingfi sher’s ordinances but made at least one change.

Hennessey’s allows growing only in areas zoned for agriculture, although Kingfisher allows it in ag and industrial areas.

Kelly Bullis told the Hennessey board last week that she’d planned to put in a growing facility south of Love’s (Seventh and Main streets) in an industrial area, but can’t because of the town’s restriction.

Zoning Change

Approved But …

The board unanimously OK’d the change, but excluded industrial areas where there are homes so that a growing facility may not be within 300 feet of a residence.

“Three-hundred feet is like a city block,” said Public Works Director Curtis Turner.

The board took the action at its Thursday night meeting after about an hour of discussion.

Mayor Bert Gritz told Kelly Bullis, and her husband, Mickie Bullis, that it would take some time before the change took effect. The town’s attorney has to go over the change, then board approval and publication before it would be effective.

Kelly Bullis said they didn’t want to make a $100,000 investment until they know what’s required of them.

“Believe me, we’re not trying to hold you up,” Gritz told the couple, and an unidentified man who was with them. “That’s just the process.”

Gritz said he’d originally wanted the industrial exclusion because there were several homes on the west side of town in industrial-zoned areas.

Many are in the rodeo grounds areas, he said “and some homeowners were concerned about (retail businesses) due to traffi c and …”

“I don’t blame them,” Kelly Bullis said. “I wouldn’t want to live next to one (retail store) either.”

Licensing Stumbling Blocks

She said the town’s commercial medical marijuana application requires a copy of the applicant’s state license before it could be approved, but the OMMA (Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority) requires her to get approval from the town fi rst.

She said the county doesn’t have an application.

“It’s sorta sounds like (which came first) the chicken or the egg,” said board member Wes Hardin.

He said what the town needs from her is their plan with the size and other information so that the town’s inspector can approve it.

The town has an “outside inspector” for that purpose, said Turner and that’s the reason the town has a $1,500 application fee. The town has to pay him each time he inspects the plan and the progress on the structure, Turner told her.

$1,500 Renewal License Fee

Kelly Bullis also questioned a yearly renewal licensing fee of $1,500, and asked Hardin if he had to renew his town license on the Vernost Wine Co.

Hardin said no because the board had changed that.

Turner said the reason the town was requiring the annual renewal is because the board understood it is required for marijuana licensing.

“We’d just be passing along the costs for us to hire that outside inspector,” Turner said. “The renewal permit is just to keep track that standards are kept up to snuff.”

Gritz said that the medical marijuana laws are still so new that apparently state and local governments are in the dark as to what they can and cannot do.

Hennessey’s first ordinance restricted any marijuana facility within 300 yards of any home, Gritz said. “Our attorney told us that we were leaving ourselves open to a lawsuit, so we changed it,” he said.

Kelly Bullis had suggested that the board not allow marijuana in the area west of Main Street and Gritz said their attorney also nixed that.