Get up and express your opinion or sit back and listen to where the City is at on recreational marijuana businesses inside city limits.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Auburn’s Planning Commission expects to review draft language amendments to the City Code that could regulate I-502 state licensed recreational marijuana uses in the city, and hold a public hearing in the Council Chambers of Auburn City Hall at 25 West Main St.

People may submit questions up until and at the hearing.

It is all part of the City’s continued review of options respecting marijuana. On the heels of the success of voter-passed I-502 two years ago this November, the City Council directed the Planning Commission to study the issue.

When the initiative passed, City Attorney Dan Heid said Monday, no one knew how cities were going to address the issue, so Auburn and other cities across the state imposed moratoriums to give their leaders time to study it.

“That’s what our Planning Commission has been doing pretty diligently,” Heid said Monday. “What we ended up doing is identifying all the different options. The Planning Commission has narrowed its current approach – not to say it couldn’t change – down to two different strategies. One obvious strategy could be prohibition, like Yakima and a number of other jurisdictions have done. Another would be for the City to allow the state licensing scheme to operate. But how much of a role they’ll play in that depends on what local involvement there is, or whether the City’s local involvement only going to be enforcement of the state regulations, rather than having City regulations that are different.”

Residents with speech, sight or hearing disabilities who want to review documents pertaining to this hearing may contact the City of Auburn within 10 calendar days of the meeting, as to the type of service or equipment needed. Each request will be considered individually according to the type of request, the availability of resources, and the financial ability of the City to provide the requested services or equipment.

Anyone with further comments or questions should contact David Jones, senior planner, at dljones@auburnwa.gov or 253-804-5031.