Sisters councilors sending marijuana measures to voters

The Sisters City Council has decided to have voters decide whether to allow recreational marijuana production and sales in the city, and whether to put a 3 percent tax on marijuana sales.

City Manager Brant Kucera said because of the input they have gotten from the community, they decided to put it to a citywide vote.

“In this case, there was enough diversely of opinion that we wanted to let them tell us what direction the community wants to go in,” Kucera said.

The council decided Wednesday evening to send ordinances to allow marijuana establishments and the 3 percent tax on sales to the November ballot, after the language is drafted and approved.

The ordinances also will set up a way for the city to implement the tax and collect the tax as well.

On another issue, the city is beginning a discussion on how to move forward with affordable housing.

The idea is to make things easier for non-profits to help create affordable housing options.

Right now, there is no way for the city to waive system development charges for affordable housing.

Those charges, in some cases, can really put a nonprofit at a disadvantage and make it difficult for them to put in new housing affordable to more people.

Kucera said he would like to see a change to the city charter that could make it easier for companies to come in and build affordable housing without having to pay SDCs for those developments.

“With our affordable housing fund, really it’s up to council on how that money gets spent,” Kucera said. “And so they could actually use those funds to actually pay the SDCs, so give Habitat a grant for SDCs.”

This topic was brought up in a Wednesday council work session by Kucera, who hopes they will be able to be more inviting to nonprofits and affordable housing developments by cutting costs.

Kucera added that with the growth of the city, it’s important they keep up with the needs of the people living there who may need different housing options.