Bloglander

At its meeting tonight, the City Council unanimously put a temporary kibosh on any new medical marijuana collectives in the city.

The "emergency" moratorium, passed with no public testimony, was pushed through under a temporary suspension of Council rules. (Moratoriums are sometimes passed in that manner to prevent people from rushing to do whatever is about to be forbidden.)

The ordinance puts on hold any new business licenses, permits or other processes that would facilitate the opening of a new medical marijuana operation in the city. 

Council members say they're worried the local medical marijuana market is growing too quickly while the state wades through rule-making for Initiative 502, which legalized recreational marijuana in the state.

The ordinance requires the Council to hold a meeting and take public testimony about the moratorium within 60 days. A date for the hearing has not yet been set. 

Here's the full ordinance:

Ordinance C34968 Establishing a Moratorium

More city hall eyeball over here.