PHOENIX β The town of Snowflake may have violated state laws in charging $800,000 to allow a marijuana grower to set up shop in the community, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.
In a first-of-its-kind ruling under a new state law, Brnovich said it appears the council essentially pulled the number without legal basis. His decision gives the town 30 days to correct the problem or wind up in court.
Brnovichβs decision, however, may prove to be a hollow victory for Rep. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, who had hoped to stop the facility from going in at all.
The council is free to hold a new vote and enact a legally defensible fee. That, in turn, would give voters a chance to circulate petitions to put the question on the ballot.
At that point the only question would be whether the town gets to collect the tax from the grower. Thatβs because what Brnovich wrote does not require the town to reconsider the special-use permit it already has granted for the 80-acre site where Copperstate Farming intends to grow medical marijuana.
That does not deter attorney Kory Langhofer, who represents foes of the facility. He contends that the levy the town council imposed on Copperstate is part of a larger illegal act, making the permit to grow marijuana invalid.
βIt was issued in violation of Arizona law,β he said of the town. βThey basically put the license up for sale.β
Doug Cole, spokesman for Copperstate, said the special-use permit is already done and cannot be overturned, no matter the fate of the levy.
He said that Proposition 203, the 2010 voter-approved measure that legalized medical marijuana, limits the ability of local cities and towns to preclude not only dispensaries but also growing facilities as long as they meet other conditions. And Cole said Copperstate complies.
The action by Brnovich comes a day after Fife Symington IV, the manager of Copperstate Farms and son of the former governor, announced his firm had completed acquisition of the existing 40-acre greenhouse that had previously been used to grow tomatoes and cucumbers. Cole said Symingtonβs father has nothing to do with the new operation.
He said plans are to start with five acres of marijuana planted by the end of the year.
Whether that happens may need to be resolved not by Brnovich but by a Navajo County Superior Court judge who is hearing a lawsuit brought by Langhofer to block what he called βthe worldβs largest marijuana growing facility,β which he said is out of character for the rural White Mountains community.
The ruling by Brnovich is the first under a new state statute that allows any legislator to ask the attorney general to determine if a community is violating any state law. If the attorney general agrees, the city or town has 30 days to fix the problem or face the loss of its state shared revenues, money that can make up half a communityβs operating budget.
