The
meeting was called to order at 7 PM by Chairman Ken Hardwick.
There
was a quorum present with the following Board members in attendance: Gary
Vanhorn, Herb Jolliff, Don Draeger, Ken Hardwick, David Thiel and Mark
Matthews. There were approximately 70 residents of the airpark in
attendance to hear the presentation by Mark Jennings on the proposal for a
cannabis processing plan on the corner of Stryker Road and Skyraider Drive.
The
minutes of the previous October 12, 2015 meeting were approved as written.
The
minutes of the meeting were taken by Don Draeger, North Park Board member.
First
was the presentation by Mark Jennings, the representative of the group who are
in the process of attempting to set up a cannabil processing plant on the 1 and
½ acre northern parcel on Stryker Road nearest to Skyraider Drive. He is
representing a group (been in business about 5 to 6 years) from the East Coast
who have plants that make supplement products. They are looking to expand their
business and have decided medical cannibis may be the next new pharmaceutical
business to get into. The projected building size is approximately 5000 to 7000
square foot building with paved parking. There will be an estimated 8 to 10
employees who will have engineering backgrounds (I would assume it would most
likely be chemical engineering) and they will be processing hemp/marijuana
plant material to extract the CDB (not THC) compounds out of the organic
material (Monday to Friday daytime schedule). They will be using a completely
self-contained process called “Super Critical CO2 Extraction” which uses no
volatile compounds (several other methods use organic
solvents/alcohols/bezene/etc to extract the oils and compounds) but the CO2
“Super Critical” extraction process uses CO2 gas or liquid which is in a sealed
process container which contains the organic plant matter, the CO2 is then
compressed to about 10,000 psi until it becomes Super Critical where it
exhibits all the characteristics of both a gas and a liquid. This pressure and
the characteristics of the Super Critical compound (CO2) separates the waxes,
oils, and organic chemical compounds from the plant material. The
pressure on the vessel then is released with the CO2 being recovered for reuse
and the organic compounds oils and waxes being precipitated out of the gas
stream for further processing. The chemical that is actually extracted in the
process is called CBD and is not the THC that creates the “high” from the
plant. The CBD oil will be converted to gel caps (like fish oil or
vitamin D supplements) and will be sold as a medical supplement for pain
control for cancer patients and the like. The processing plant is
projected to be a wholesale plant only (no retail) and there is a desire by the
developers to keep its location low key. There will be little traffic
impact as there will be deliveries of hemp/marijuana product (from licensed
growers only) every two weeks to 1 month intervals. The deliveries and
shipments will be in box vans (described as 20’) and all aspects of that system
is dictated by state statue. The security requirements for the site will be as
required by the state mandates and there are Federal procedures which need to
be followed for the plant to do business. Mark did say that some R &
D would be conducted at the site and to that end there would be some supply of
organic solvents (as someone who used to work in a chemical R & D lab I am
thinking it will be relatively small quantities -think a few liters- on site to
enable that research. He said the MSDS’s would be available to the public
(Its actually a federal requirement that all businesses make their MSDS’s
available to emergency responder organizations and the public). He also
said that his group also believed in giving back to the communities they
operated in and would be willing to sign a statement to the effect that they
would funnel some part of their profit through the city to benefit the
community.
Mike
Danko was there from the city to explain that the City of Independence has NO
statutes or other regulation specific on limitations to this kind of business
so the legal requirements are all addressed by the State as to the legalities
of the business. The type of business qualifies as light industrial and the
land across from the airpark is zone heavy industrial so it is a permissible
type of business to be located there. Mark Jennings and his group have
not formally filed an application with the city as of yet and Mark had only
contacted Mike about a week or so ago. Mike had suggested to Mark that
meeting with the neighbors might be a good idea. If the residents want to
do something about prohibiting this kind of manufactoring in the City then they
needed to talk to their elected officials (city council) about passing the
ordinances. if that doesn’t happen before the approval process for the project
is completed then the plant would be built.
At
this point the group is dealing with the Oregon State Department of
Agriculture, State Fire Marshall also FDA. Because of process used for
extraction there is no toxic waste and facilities like this are required by
regulation to be sited in cities and towns instead of, as was suggested in the
meeting, in the desert.
I think from a practical standpoint that other than the material being
processed, the plant being proposed could have been much worse in terms of
effect of the potential for extremely hazardous chemicals being used in the
process. i don’t know how much pressure can be put out there to keep the
group Mark represents from doing what they want to do. i think (knowing
the political process as I do) that by the time that city could pass the
necessary ordinances the plant could possibly be built and in operation.
At that point as a preexisting business I don’t think that they could be
forced to move. It would however keep an expansion of the plant or new
processing plants of this kind from being built in the city. We are
fortunate that it isn’t a rendering plant, tannery, rare metals plant or an
electronic chip assembly plant that is being proposed as the potential for
catastrophic events would be much more probable given the nastier chemicals and
odors that are associated with those kinds of endeavors. The fact is the
land on Stryker at some point is bound to be developed and the airpark
residents need to start working with the city council to see IF we can refine
and put limitations on what kind of businesses can be located there.I am
doubtful given LCDC guidelines that the zoning could be changed significantly.
The
second piece of business that occupied as much time was Chuck West bringing
ISAS up to date on the Salem Airspace Grab by the FAA. Chuck has done a
lot of work and is working on a letter to be sent out to our Senators and other
elected officials to educate them on our concerns and turn the heat up on the
FAA. when the letter is ready the vested groups in ISAS will sign on to
it to show our support. I committed North Park to supporting this effort
as I feel it supports our association. Chuck has done a lot of work and needs
to be commended for his commitment to this issue.
We
reelected the 2015 officers to carry over to 2016 and once again Ken Hardwick
is Chairman, David Ullman is Vice-Chair and Robert English is Sec-Treasurer.
The
meeting was adjourned at 9 PM. The next ISAS meeting is scheduled for April 11,
2016 - EAA Hangar - 7 PM