Marijuana Retail Hours and Annual Reporting Text Amendments

The Board of County Commissioners held a public hearing on August 25, 2021 on legislative text amendments to 1) extend the permitted hours for marijuana retail businesses and 2) modify marijuana annual reporting requirements. A public hearing was held before the Planning Commission on July 22, 2021 (see link to video below).

The Board opted to decouple the two components of the text amendments, voting to hold first reading of the text amendments pertaining to retail hours (Ordinance No. 2021-011), and to hold continued deliberations on the text amendments addressing annual reporting (new Ordinance No. 2021-012), both on September 8. Please see below for links to meeting materials and video.

Summary of Amendments

Both components of the proposed legislative amendments initially began with requests from Deschutes County property owners.

The Board received a request from a marijuana retailer to adjust marijuana retail hours of operation in rural Deschutes County. Deschutes County Code 18.116.330(C)(1) currently permits hours of operation from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for marijuana retail; however, the OLCC permits hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. This discrepancy may put these businesses at a competitive disadvantage, as retail operations within Bend and La Pine city limits generally adhere to OLCC guidelines. There are currently two marijuana retail businesses in unincorporated Deschutes County.

The Board also received a request from a marijuana producer to modify or remove annual reporting and inspection requirements for marijuana-related businesses beginning in 2022 to reduce redundancies for business owners and operational capacity strains on staff. In reporting years 2018, 2019, and 2020, staff observed 100 percent compliance with observable conditions of approval, and for those with local approval but still in the queue for their OLCC license, staff verified that none of them were producing marijuana.

In its current form, annual reporting by marijuana establishments is submitted to the Community Development Department (CDD) by February 1 of each year, including the applicable fee for those businesses with licenses, and a fully executed Consent to Inspect Premises form. Staff then reviews and logs those annual reports and uses them as a basis for a site visit in the summer to verify observable conditions of approval, such as odor and noise mitigation systems, water source, and other criteria. For 2021, staff anticipated conducting site visits for approximately 34 businesses throughout the county.

OLCC, the licensing authority for recreational marijuana, performs its own “proactive compliance inspections” of marijuana businesses, which address some of the same land use conditions that Deschutes County monitors, as well as items such as harvest weight and worker compliance.

 

For copies of the proposed amendments, please see meeting materials links below.

 

Meeting Schedule
Adoption

The Board of County Commissioners adopted Ordinance No. 2021-011 and 2021-012 in September 2021, which will be effective in December 2021. Please see below for the adopted amendments and their effective dates. 

 

For more information, please contact Tanya Saltzman, Senior Planner: tanya.saltzman@deschutes.org or 541-388-6528.

Supporting Documents

PDF icon July 22 Planning Commission Public Hearing Materials (275 KB)
PDF icon August 25 Board of County Commissioners Public Hearing Materials (72 KB)
PDF icon Signed Ordinance No. 2021-011 - Retail (159 KB)
PDF icon Signed Ordinance No. 2021-012 - Annual Reporting (160 KB)
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