JOSEPH — Penny Arentsen, vice-president of the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium (JBTC), has asked the City of Joseph to endorse the 63-mile rails-with-trail project. The project would link Joseph to Elgin via a bike/pedestrian trail along the rail line and right-of-way currently owned by the Wallowa Union Railroad Authority (WURA).

Arentsen told the Joseph City Council at its April 2 meeting that she was part of the group studying the feasibility of the project and getting information about it out to the communities and property owners along the rail line. She said the JBTC wanted a letter of support from the council for the project and said the City of Wallowa had signed such a letter. Arentsen said a letter of support could help convince WURA, comprised of commissioners from both Union and Wallowa counties, to greenlight the project.

Arentsen said the group has received mixed feedback from landowners along the rail corridor, citing possible issues with trespassing, littering, dogs and privacy.

Councilor Teresa Sajonia asked who would maintain the project and Arentsen replied the county owned the line, but until the project galvanized, she couldn’t give definitive answers.

Mayor Dennis Sands said he’d like to see the feasibility discussions move forward and appreciated that JBTC tried to garner as much public input as possible. Someone asked who was responsible for law enforcement along the trail and Arentsen replied it was also undetermined.

After some discussion the council decided it did not have enough local input to provide a complete letter of support for the project, but ended up unanimously voting to provide a letter of support for continuing the feasibility study of the project.

Marijuana was another issue on the council’s agenda this month. With the current Joseph moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries set to expire at the end of April, as well as the recent passage of measure 91, which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana, the council debated how to meet the challenges posed by legal marijuana. Wallowa County District Attorney Mona Williams attended that portion of the council’s April 2 meeting to assist and supplement the discussion, as did Joseph City Attorney Wyatt Baum.

Sands opened the discussion saying the council needed to consider whether to allow either medical or recreational marijuana dispensaries.

Williams said she had discussed with councilor Sharon Newell whether the council had the authority to place an outright ban on medical marijuana dispensaries as Joseph’s current moratorium on the issue expires at the end of April.

Baum said no one is completely certain the Oregon Legislature has “occupied the field,” meaning it’s unclear whether the Legislature has total authority on regulation and placement of dispensaries. He said Sean O’Day, counsel for the League of Oregon Cities, said Oregon is a “Home Rule” state, which means if no law on the books specifies the Legislature has “occupied the field,” then the Oregon Constitution allows cities to legislate their own rules.

Baum said that, for the moment, many cities are waiting on the Legislature to make amendments to Measure 91 before attempting to regulate dispensaries. He added that the Oregon Court of Appeals decided in 2010 that community regulations on medical marijuana are not necessarily incompatible with state law simply because they’re more stringent. Baum also said that because the west side of the state is far ahead of the east side in legal challenges, a west side lawsuit could soon determine parameters for dispensary regulations.

The city could also vote to ban dispensaries during the 2016 election cycle, according to Baum. The council elected to have Baum write an ordinance that severely curtails the possibility of the establishment of a medical marijuana dispensary within the city limits.