Cascade Locks Port drops marijuana grower plans

Since last fall, owners Meghan Horan and her nephew, Zach Prosser, both from Stevenson, have been in talks with port leaders, hoping to rent out light industrial space and build a 1,500-square-foot growing operation, the first such business in Cascade Locks.

This week, however, port staff reached consensus to drop the plan.

Issues with banking and loans for the project reared foremost, they said, because cannabis remains a federally controlled substance (and a highly regulated one in Oregon).

“There is just a lot of risk for public entities to do this,” Port of Cascade Locks Economic Development Director Don Mann said. “It’s one of those tough business decisions.”

The port partners with federal grant and loan programs, which could be at stake if the port violates those agencies’ criteria by hosting a marijuana-related business on their property, Mann said. Also, most Oregon banks don’t accept loans for building a facility that manufactures cannabis.

During public meetings in January and February, port commissioners showed interest in Gorgeous Green’s business concept. Public testimony was largely favorable. However, legal requirements were always the linchpin.

“The port commissioners and community seemed to welcome our business, but this industry is so new, I understand their apprehensions,” Horan said.

For now, Gorgeous Green doesn’t have plans for where they’ll site their operation. Horan said the company looked into Hood River as an alternative, but they couldn’t find a location.

Mann described the “no” choice as a business decision rather than a personal one, or a “bias” against Gorgeous Green as a marijuana manufacturer. He said the business “couldn’t have been more upfront” and “professional.”

From conversations with state regulators, port staff heard that no other Oregon port districts have successfully built or leased space for marijuana manufacturing tenants, though some Washington ports have done so.

In Cascade Locks, marijuana retailers are essentially banned, but the port was interested in the manufacturing side.

The City of Cascade Locks last summer passed restrictions prohibiting marijuana dispensaries from doing business on the main drag of WaNaPa Street — time, place and manner restrictions block any establishment located 1,000 feet from a school.

Though Gorgeous Green won’t be coming to Cascade Locks immediately, Mann said the equation could change down the road. He said the port would consider partnering with a marijuana manufacturing company in several years, once federal and state rules are ironed out.