In September, the Fairfax Town Council approved an ordinance placing a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana facilities within town limits – despite the fact that one medical marijuana facility already exists on School Street. The council said at the time that with a number of applications for such facilities coming into the planning department and with the possibility of Prop. 19 – which would have legalized recreational marijuana use in California – becoming law, a temporary moratorium was necessary to get past the Nov. 2 election and to allow staff time to consider new zoning laws and regulations.

"If Prop. 19 passes, we're going to have a whole new terrain," said Mayor Lew Tremaine at that Sept. 1 meeting.

Prop. 19, however, failed this past Tuesday with only 46.1 percent support. (Support was higher in Marin, where 62.07 percent of voters said yes to the initiative.)

Despite this, the Fairfax council passed an extension of the moratorium at last night's meeting, banning any new medical marijuana facilities for six more months.

The initial ordinance will not actually take effect until Nov. 6, but because it was only a 45-day moratorium the council had to consider an extension at it's Nov. 3 meeting in order for there not to be a gap in the temporary ban. In addition, although there was a period between the Sept. 1 meeting, when the ordinance was first enacted, and Nov. 6, when it went into effect, the council was advised that any applications for medical marijuana facilities that were made in that time would likely not be heard by the Planning Commission until after the moratorium went into effect.

At last night's meeting, the council opted to extend the temporary moratorium in order to allow staff time to consider what types of regulations should be placed on new medical marijuana facilities.

"We're the only welcoming community," said Tremaine, which means that many medical marijuana facilities want to come to Fairfax. Although there are a handful of facilities in the county, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax is the only fully-permitted, town-sanctioned facility in Marin.

The discussion by the council was first prompted by two applications for new medical marijuana facilities on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard on the east end of town. Both those facilities were denied in the summer by the Planning Commission because of parking and location issues.

Because medical marijuana facilities want to locate in Fairfax, the council agreed that it was necessary to consider requirements and criteria – such as where the facilities can be located, how much parking there has to be, and what type of security measures are necessary.

"I want there to be the ability for there to be competition in town," said Tremaine.

Tremaine and council member John Reed both said they would be more comfortable with a shorter moratorium period, but staff said it would be difficult to craft appropriate regulations in a three or four month window. New zoning and permit regulations have to be drafted, go through the Planning Commission, come to the Town Council, be considered, voted on, have a first and second reading, and then go into effect 30 days after the second reading.

Planning Director Jim Moore said they would bring recommendations for the zoning and regulation of medical marijuana facilities back to the council, which will consider them before sending them to the Planning Commission.

"This is as much a political document as a planning one," said council member David Weinsoff.

Although there were a number of medical marijuana advocates that spoke at the Sept. 1 meeting against a temporary moratorium, none were present at last night's meeting.