Lawsuit targets Borough marijuana initiative

In a last-minute bid to overturn a Matanuska-Suisitna Borough ballot initiative banning commercial marijuana, some cannabis supporters have served the Borough with a lawsuit.  The complaint wants the courts to force the Borough to take the initiative off the October election ticket, and the outcome of the case could have widespread implications.

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The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in state Superior Court in Palmer, comes just a month before the Mat-Su Borough election. The legal action alleges the Borough’s ballot initiative banning commercial marijuana grow and retail operations throughout the Borough, is invalid, because it violates state statues requiring planning commission review of land use ordinances.

Ronda Marcy sits on the Borough’s marijuana advisory committee and filed the suit with Thomas Hannon. They’re also suing former Borough mayor Larry DeVilbiss and fifteen of the petitioners who sponsored the initiative. Marcy alleges the sponsors began collecting petition signatures prematurely.

“They were started before the law allowed them to do so.”

And she says, the initiative wording is confusing because it  asks voters to make the marijuana industry illegal but allow the hemp industry to continue. She says it presents two questions in one initiative, which violates state law.

“If the cannibis community is being brought in to follow the laws, then the other communities, like local governments, should also follow the laws.”

Borough attorney Nick Spiropolous says the suit caught the Borough by surprise. He said Wednesday he’s still evaluating it.

“From my perspective, most of it focuses on the claim that this is a planning law, and that there are prior cases out there that say you cannot do planning laws by initiative. They say, this is a planning law, and you can’t do planning laws by initiative, and then ask for the relief.”

Spiropolous says the plaintiffs have asked the courts for expedited consideration and for injunctive relief to take the question off the ballot, or to have the ballots not counted if they are voted on, or to have the law not take effect if it passes.

“The Borough’s response will be that we did not act illegally, beyond that, I can’t really say.”

If the plaintiffs win their case, the outcome could have implications for other local government cannabis ordinances. Within the Borough limits, the cities of Palmer and Houston both have established commercial marijuana regulations through voter initiative, rather than through planning and zoning power.