The Pacific City Council answered the question of what to do with marijuana business in the city this past week, voting to put the kibosh on recreational and medical pot stores, processors and producers.

At its Jan. 26 regular scheduled meeting, the council waded through five separate ordinances, voting to nix the sale of medical marijuana and prohibit any future growing, processing and selling of recreational pot.

The council opened up by voting unanimously to extend an interim zoning moratorium on pot businesses. The emergency moratorium makes sure there is no gap between the expiration of the old moratorium and the implementation of Ordinance 2015-1891, which bans any recreational business, and Ordinance 2014-1872, which prohibits medical marijuana dispensaries and collective gardens.

The council voted 4-3 on 2015-1891, Councilmembers John Jones, Clint Steiger, Tren Walker and Katie Garberding all voting to ban recreational pot businesses, and Vic Kave, Stacey Oliveira and Josh Putnam voting against the prohibition.

“It’s so thorough and regulated so tightly,” Kave said. “The state is taking on the responsibility to regulate it. We need to give that a chance to work. I also think we shouldn’t be restricting people’s ability to operate a legal business in our town. Our job is to find a place they can do that.”

For Putnam, the outright ban was premature, with the state Legislature working on more than 30 pieces of legislation concerning recreational and medical marijuana.

“I would prefer not to adopt any permanent regulations, pro or con, until we see what this session of the Legislature does,” he said.

Putnam was the lone vote against banning medical marijuana, citing his wish to wait until the Legislature had weighed in on the issue this session, adding that it “was premature to adopt any permanent legislation on this issue.”

Jones disagreed:

“We can pass this now, but in the future as the state becomes more attuned to the requirements of medical dispensaries and collective gardens, we can then come back and make modifications.”

Pacific has four medical marijuana businesses operating in the city. The new regulations will likely prompt attempts to close those businesses, which are now illegal according to city code.

The City hosted a public meeting on Jan. 20 for comments from residents on the issue of marijuana businesses.