Medical marijuana, urban renewal: What to look out for at Monday's Forest Grove City Council ...

The Forest Grove City Council will decide Monday night to join more than 100 cities and towns in Oregon in enacting a one-year ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Forest Grove Community Auditorium.

Here’s what to look out for at tonight’s meeting:

Forest Grove heads toward moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries

The Council will vote on whether to raise a ban on medical marijuana facilities until May 1, 2015.

The decision, made three days before the May 1 deadline, would grant city officials time to establish regulations on dispensaries’ hours of operation, location and manner in which they dispense marijuana.

City Attorney Paul Elsner said at a previous work session the city may alter the ordinance at any time before the 2015 deadline, but may not then reenact the ban.

Council takes first steps toward urban renewal

The Council will also decide on whether to establish its members as the governing body that oversee the urban renewal district and declare the blighted areas around Forest Grove.

The district, which covers 6.6 percent of the city, focuses on the area running west along Pacific Avenue and 19th Avenue from just before Quince Street to the Times Litho site.

After the agency is established, city staff will come up with a plan and identify specific projects the agency will oversee. That plan would focus on spurring development in blighted areas, including turning the vacant Times Litho site into a mixed-use development.

The city’s Planning Commission will then review the plan to make sure it complies with the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

Forest Grove Aquatic Center fees set to increase this year

The Council will decide on whether to accept Forest Grove Parks Director Tom Gamble’s recommendation to increase the city’s Aquatic Center fees, starting July 1.

The fee increase would result in roughly $10,200 in revenue for the Parks department in the next year.

– Edwin Rios

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Medical marijuana, urban renewal: What to look out for at Monday's Forest Grove City Council ...