Tonight, Redmond may become the second Central Oregon city to ban medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits, as the City Council is expected to vote for a second time on a one-year moratorium on the dispensaries.

The council failed to secure the unanimous vote needed to pass the ordinance at its March 25 meeting because Councilor Ginny McPherson was absent and Councilor Ed Onimus voted against the ban.

Other cities are following suit by drawing up ordinances banning medical marijuana dispensaries in compliance with Senate Bill 1531. The bill, passed by the Oregon Legislature in early March, allows local governments to ban dispensaries for a year, as long as they begin the process by May 1.

According to Prineville Planning Director Phil Stenbeck, the Prineville City Council has moved forward with a plan to adopt an ordinance placing a moratorium on dispensaries within city limits and is currently processing the paperwork.

There will be two council meetings, the first a public hearing on April 8 and a second on April 22 when councilors could make a decision.

The Madras City Council will also likely present an ordinance at a council meeting and public hearing on April 8.

“Assuming there’s a consensus of council, we’ll move forward on April 22 and then adopt the ordinance by emergency,” said Madras community development director Nick Snead.

In a 5-0 vote Thursday, the Sisters City Council passed a temporary moratorium on dispensaries but is letting Sisters residents have the final say in November.

“We only agreed (to the moratorium) if we were going to bring a ballot measure to citizens this November,” said Sisters Mayor Brad Boyd.

The ballot measure will be drawn up soon asking citizens to vote yes or no on whether to allow dispensaries, with regulations to be decided later, Boyd said.

La Pine is still in the early stages of adopting an ordinance banning dispensaries, according to Rick Allen, La Pine’s interim city manager. Allen said that while most Central Oregon cities have ordinances banning businesses that violate federal, state or local laws, La Pine’s business ordinance doesn’t take effect until July 1, so the sooner it can pass a medical marijuana ordinance, the better.

“I have had two inquiries in the last two months. We’ve had no applications for medical marijuana outlets inside the city,” Allen said. “I would suspect that we will have an ordinance up for a vote in the latter part of April.”

The city of Bend currently has two state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries and 13 waiting for state approval. Deschutes County banned dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county in early March. Crook County will likely do the same, with the first ordinance reading on Wednesday and second reading and final vote on April 16.

—Reporter: 541-633-2117, mwarner@bendbulletin.com