A hemp growing business has a backup plan after Warren County MO officials denied a change allowing them to grow medical marijuana on land zoned agricultural.
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The business that requested a zoning change that would have allowed medical marijuana to be grown on agricultural land says it is already working on plan b.
The Warren County Planning and Zoning Commission denied the change at its Feb. 15 meeting.
Vandiver Thomas Enterprises LLC, which plans to do business as 3140 when it opens, received a micro-business license from the state in October and has two years to become operational.
The company already grows more than 3,000 hemp plants on the property it had hoped to start growing medical marijuana.
“It was natural for us to think of converting the farm into cannabis,” Nicole Vandiver said. “Hemp and marijuana are taxonomically speaking the same plant. … What sets them apart is the degree of THC nine or delta nine.”
Vandiver said her business began the process of starting to rezone the area in August, but understood her neighbors concerns.
During the Feb. 15 meeting, a number of members of the public spoke in opposition to the zoning change. Their concerns focused mainly on big cultivators they believed would try to take advantage of the zoning change.
But Vandiver said that wasn’t what her business would be, and that she would only have 250 medical marijuana plants.
“We were going to build a building to house our office and packaging trimming,” she said. “I mean, we already do that on the property. It really wasn’t much of a change.”
“It was not our intent at all to cause any anguish or grief,” she said. “We felt the neighbors’ concerns were legitimate and we actually agreed with the board’s decision to deny the cannabis operation in a residential area.”
She said her business has already found another location, but declined to state where until the contracts were signed.
“We plan on being operational this year,” she said.
About the author: Jason Koch is the editor of The Warren County Record, and covers local news and government for the newspaper. He has won multiple awards from both the Indiana and Illinois APME and from the Illinois Press Association. He can be reached at 636-456-6397 or at jason@warrencountyrecord.com
