Ohhhh, we got trouble!

    Yeahhhh, we got trouble!

And that starts with "T"...

    And that rhymes with "P"...

And that stands for POT!!!

Posted: 6:57 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, 2015

Group proposes one of 10 pot grow sites in Middletown

Indoor facility could be located on 40 acres near Yankee and Todhunter roads

By Laura A. Bischoff and Michael D. Pitman

Columbus bureau

MIDDLETOWN — 

    Forty acres of land in Middletown would be home to one of 10 indoor marijuana growing facilities if Ohio voters approve a constitutional amendment in November to legalize pot for recreational and medical uses, documents released Monday show.

    ResponsibleOhio released a 24-page summary of the ballot language that identifies where each of 10 grow sites will be. Investors bought or arranged purchase options on the 10 sites.   Those locations include two adjoining, 20-acre parcels owned by Trenton-based Magnode Corporation near Yankee and Todhunter roads in Middletown.

    News that Middletown might house one of the indoor growing facilities wasn’t well received by some businesses or elected officials in the city and Butler County.

    “I think it’s a terrible idea,” said Butler County Commissioner Don Dixon. “I would not support any part of it, and I think sometimes I question the sanity of people who can present that, convince people that that’s good for people in our community. It’s not, in any way, shape or form.    It’s the beginning of a lot of bad things that could happen.”

    State Rep. Tim Derickson, R-Hanover Twp., said he’s a big proponent of economic development throughout the county “but this is not exactly what I had in mind.”

    Monday’s announcement by ResponsibleOhio comes on the heels of the city of Hamilton’s proposal to preemptively ban medical marijuana sales within the city. A public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday’s City Council meeting to address zoning ordinance changes affecting medical marijuana sales.

    Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said he doesn’t support attempts to legalize medical marijuana sales and will actively “campaign against it.”

    “I’m going to be very boisterous,” Jones said. “I have the bully pulpit and I’m going to use it.”

    “Other states that have had it … (and are) trying to re-think it,” he said of marijuana legalization. “Why not have medical heroin and medical cocaine? Where does it stop?”

    Jones called marijuana a gateway drug that can lead to a more serious addiction.

    “We have enough issues, and it’s a slippery slope,” he said. “It’s a little bag of weed and they start smoking that … and where it ends up is my jail being full of people that do this drug.”

    Martin Bidwill, president/CEO of Magnode Corporation, said the two parcels in Middletown have been for sale for at least five years. He said Monday was the first time he had heard the land could be used as a possible grow site for medical marijuana.

    Bidwill said about a month ago, he was approached by a potential, unidentified buyer via a Columbus realty company. That buyer put a down payment on the property as part of an option agreement where the property was taken off the market for at least six months.

    “But we were never told who the buyer is, and we still don’t know to this day,” Bidwill said. He added that as long as the buyer buys the land legally, and should marijuana become legalized in Ohio, he doesn’t think he has a right to judge.

     “We’ll just let it play out,” Bidwill said. “I have no right to say anything in regards to a legal status of a company.”

    When asked if he would want a legal grow site near his facilities, Bidwill said he wasn’t sure.

    “I would have to get more information, such as whether there are increased crime rates in those areas or not,” he said.

    Middletown Mayor Larry Mulligan said that while a number of people have expressed concern about the legalization of marijuana, “I think we’ve got more work to do on this.”

    Mulligan hasn’t spoken with the city administration “on what approach we should take” on the topic.

    “I would probably share (the) concerns (of other elected officials), but I’ve also learned that it’s difficult with state law sometimes what our local control may or may not be in these situations,” Mulligan said.

    Several companies directly abut the property along Made Industrial Drive, including Granger Plastics Company. President Jim Cravens said one of his major concerns was what legalizing marijuana would do to the already decimated workforce in Middletown.

    Granger currently employs about 27 people, and Cravens said they have had trouble finding legitimate candidates over the past two or three years. He said the company has had significant trouble hiring from Middletown itself; most of his employees are from Trenton, Monroe, and other nearby communities.

    “I run a drug-free program…and I have a hard enough time hiring as it is, so what happens when marijuana becomes legal and everyone is smoking the stuff,” he said.

    Derickson said he’s spoken with many employers over the years, specifically concerning workforce development needs, and many of them have told him it’s hard to find employees that can pass a drug test.

    “This effort would certainly not help, I think, our employers find employees that can pass a drug test,” he said.

    Other counties that will host grow sites include: Clermont, Franklin, Hamilton, Lorain, Lucas, Montgomery, Stark and Summit. All told, ResponsibleOhio has locked up access to 344 acres across the state for growing sites.

    The Franklin County location is 19.117 acres on Seeds Road near Grove City south of Interstate 71 and north of Zuber Road. The property owner listed in Franklin County auditor records is Kenneth R. Campbell of Mason (in Warren County). Campbell, who also splits his time in Hilton Head, S.C., could not be reached for comment.

    Chris Stock of ResponsibleOhio, the campaign to legalize pot, said each grow site will start with a 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art buildings that would eventually triple in size.

    But before the first cannabis seed is planted, ResponsibleOhio must get its ballot summary language approved by Attorney General Mike DeWine and then get the nod from the Ohio Ballot    Board that the proposal covers just one issue. Once it clears those hurdles, ResponsibleOhio must collect 305,600 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters by July 1 to make it on the   November ballot. The campaign to gather signatures and win over voters is expected to cost $20 million to $25 million. Ohio Rights Group, a group looking to legalize medical marijuana statewide, has been collecting since its approval by the Ohio Ballot Board in 2013; as of February, they have around 150,000 signatures.

    If ResponsibleOhio wins at every step of the way, Ohio would become the first state in the country to go directly from a total ban on marijuana to legalizing pot for both medicinal and adult recreational purposes. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia already have some level of legal marijuana.

    “We are excited to have the ballot language out there because it gives us all an opportunity to really talk in terms of specifics,” Stock said. The proposal shows that “ResponsibleOhio is working hard to put together a public policy that regulates a multi-billion dollar industry in a responsible way,” he said.

    ResponsibleOhio is backed by deep-pocket investors that include financiers, current and former professional athletes, real estate developers and others. It is opposed by anti-drug organizations, five statewide officeholders including Kasich and DeWine, and grassroots marijuana groups that believe carving out just 10 growing sites will unfairly block others who want to cultivate cannabis for sale.

    Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., said it’s the prerogative of ResponsibleOhio to seek to place an issue on the ballot, but “it is not anything that the legislature is going to enact.”

    “The voters will make their determination on what is best after reviewing the text of the proposed amendment. It’s nothing that I feel legislation is needed for in the state,” Coley said. “I respect the fact that there are those who disagree (with my position) and want to take it the constitutional amendment to the voters.”

    Coley said he sees this as similar to the casino amendment, which established four specific sites to permit casinos to be built.

    “The voters will have the ultimate say in what they decide they want to do on it,” he said.

 

maybe this is what factguy,smarty Marty, Adkins??? was saying about the city becoming the All-American city by 2020 !! yep i can see that would happen when that passes law, middletown becoming the All-American pot city USA !!! oooh man!!! city will be rich!! and all it took was 40.44 acres of pot to do it!! 

Things to ponder.....

1. Since this acreage is owned by Magnode, will the end product be part of the benefits package for new or current Magnode employees?

2. When the 40+ acres is planted and growing, how will the security be handled on a 24hr/7 day per week timeline? Will there be armed guards with dogs and security cameras? How about a barbed wire, 20 ft high security fence with guard towers placed in strategic locations? Like Miller Brewery and the taste testers of the beer batches, will there be a quality control lab to test the end product and where can we apply? Will there be a periodic test for warehouse employees and what will be the requirements for harvesting the product as an employee? Will there be a designated area for smoking? Will there be a guard shack to check each employee exiting the facility?

Does anyone think the Yankee Rd/Todhunter Rd area may become a more "active" location after this is put in place? Dunno.

These are indoor growing sites.

These grow houses won't be selling the drug to the public at all. They will sell to licensed dispensaries all over the state so I don't see this as being a draw for any town with a growing area. It will bring some jobs and some income in the form of taxes to the city.

So Adkins thinks that this pot farm will send the "wrong message about Middletown" Seriously Douggie?

So does your claim about Middletown being 54% poverty stricken.

So does placing the welcome mat out for increased HUD vouchers and escalating the Section 8 program to encompass 2.5 times the vouchers we are suppose to have.

So does driving off some long-time prominent people, as well as others, who have had enough of the nonsense and reducing the city population.

So does enhancing the poor town image by making this city a magnet for low income.

So does helping the schools drop in performance and reputation by bringing in all the people who don't care if their kids get an education or not.

So does demolishing everything in sight and leaving large tracts of empty spaces creating a scene resembling desolation from a war movie.

So does concentrating only on the downtown while the rest of the city is left unattended.

So does creating a situation for property owners in which their property is almost worthless as no one wants to locate here.

So does taxing the hell out of the citizens to make up for the lost revenue from companies that have gone out of business or packed up and left and not replacing any of them.

So does having an inept government with an agenda that only caters to a select few and continuously lying to the people or operating with hidden agendas.

So does creating a job market that offers only low paying service jobs in retail, fast food and hospitality.

So does having the worst roads of any city around here.

So does wasting taxpayer money on projects that are continual losers and benefit only a small percentage of the city population.

So does raising the crime rate and drug usage rate by inviting that element to town who practice those activities.

So does reducing the safety services for the citizens because you just can't get your budget adjusted to account for the basics.

All of these things listed, you had no problem creating. I would think the pot farm is the least of your worries right now.

Obviously, the people of ResponsibleOhio didn't talk to Mr. Adkins or anyone else before they put their plan together. I wonder who came up with the idea of using Middletown as a grow sight and who would have given them a "thumbs-up" to make such a public announcement. The only reason I wouldn't vote for this proposal is that it places a monopoly on marijuana in the state constitution. You as a private citizen couldn't grow it and could only buy it at a "state store". I also don't know what the status of industrial hemp would be under this proposal.

Just found out about the change today Viv. I'll back them now. Where do I sign?

Historic House Guy wrote: Just found out about the change today Viv. I'll back them now. Where do I sign?

Posted: 5:35 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, 2015

Middletown exploring all options to stop marijuana grow site

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

A day after Moraine was removed from the list of potential sites for a 100,000-square-foot indoor marijuana growing facility, Middletown city officials said they are still exploring all options to stop one from coming there, too.

City officials were taken by surprise when ResponsibleOhio announced that Middletown would be one of 10 sites across Ohio for proposed indoor marijuana growing facilities. ResponsibleOhio is the group backing a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational use in Ohio.

The proposed Middletown site, owned by Trenton-based Magnode Corp., is on two parcels, totalling more than 40 acres, off of Yankee and Todhunter roads. The land was purchased from the seller by a third party that did not indicate what the land might be used for.

Moraine officials, who were not happy once they learned about the proposed pot factory there, sought state help in getting its site removed from the grow list. City officials argued that the Moraine site would violate ResponsibleOhio’s own criteria that marijuana facilities be at least 1,000 feet away from churches, schools or playgrounds. There is a church less than 1,000 feet from the Moraine site, city officials said.

Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins said it might take some time for city officials “to fully evaluate” the situation.

“We are looking at the ballot language and other documentation that might be available to see where we might have options to explore,” Adkins said Friday.

Law Director Les Landen said he is continuing to research what the city can or cannot do. He said he wants to make sure there is some legal basis for any actions the city might take.

“We were clearly disappointed when this got dropped on us,” Landen said. “After we decide what we can do, we then need to decide what makes the best sense to us.”

Landen said Middletown is looking at possible legal options, reviewing the proposed ballot language, reviewing the land purchase contract between the buyer and seller, what could be done through the city zoning code, and what other recourse the city might have if the proposed constitutional amendment makes the ballot and is approved by voters.

Middletown Mayor Lawrence Mulligan said the city’s hands are somewhat tied because the constitutional amendment process is underway. He said the constitutional process was how the racinos were established in Ohio.

“I am curious to see how the other sites will approach this,” Mulligan said.

On Thursday, the ResponsibleOhio organization announced that it would substitute a proposed indoor marijuana growing facility on 50.8 acres in the Moraine Commerce Park for a site in Delaware County, north of Columbus.

Moraine City Manager David Hicks said Thursday that ResponsibleOhio’s decision was no surprise. He noted the group “created a negative relationship out of the gate” by not disclosing its product or intentions.

ResponsibleOhio, which is backed by deep-pocketed investors and a team of political veterans, is seeking to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would ask voters to legalize marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes. The campaign identified 10 locations for indoor growing facilities, including sites in Middletown and Moraine, but ResponsibleOhio released new ballot language Thursday that drops Moraine.

“This change reflects a desire from both ResponsibleOhio and the property option holder to bring job growth and revenue to a location where such a venture would be supported,” said campaign spokeswoman Lydia Bolander.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow for medical marijuana and four states also include recreational use. If ResponsibleOhio is successful, Ohio will become the first state in the country to go from a complete ban to full legalization.

ResponsibleOhio will re-circulate the new ballot language. Once it has 1,000 valid voter signatures, the summary language must win approval from state Attorney General Mike DeWine and then get the nod from the Ohio Ballot Board, which Secretary of State Jon Husted chairs.

Then the campaign needs to collect 305,600 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters by July 1 to get on the November 2015 statewide ballot.

Staff Writer Laura A. Bischoff contributed to this report.

 

Monroe seems like a better fit than Middletown.