There won’t be a medical marijuana cultivation center at this Benning Road NE location. Photo by @Patrick_Madden

With just over a week before the D.C. Department of Health is scheduled to grant licenses for medical marijuana cultivation centers, the D.C. Council today passed legislation forcing a cultivator to move out of a location along Benning Road NE in Ward 7.

The legislation, which was introduced by Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), forces Phyto Management LLC to abandon a warehouse at 3701 Benning Road NE, where it had hoped to establish a medical marijuana cultivation center. The legislation allows it 180 days to find a new space and re-submit its application to the Department of Health.

During today’s debate, Alexander claimed that she didn’t oppose medical marijuana on principle, but was merely concerned about the effect a cultivation center could have on an area of “downtown” Ward 7 she says is ripe for development.

But for Councilmembers David Catania (I-At Large) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), Alexander’s move would give community groups virtual veto power during the coming debate over where five medical marijuana dispensaries will go and possibly limit the amount of marijuana available to patients from the beginning. Catania also expressed frustration over the changing of the program’s rules, which were originally written in August 2010 and have been through a number of iterations since.

“I don’t want to set the precedent of changing the rules midway through the process,” he said.

The move comes two months after the council similarly voted to limit the number of cultivation centers in any one ward to 6. Due to zoning restrictions written into the program’s regulations, Ward 5 received the most applications for cultivation centers—26 of 28 submitted. But after a first round of city scrutiny, only nine applications remain, and the Phyto location was the only one outside of Ward 7.

Given this new set of restrictions, when the Department of Health grants licenses on March 30, it will only be able to hand out six—and they would all be in Ward 5. Given that the program’s rules originally envisioned 10 cultivation centers growing 95 plants each, medical marijuana proponents are concerned that the council has further hobbled a program that has been slow to get off of the ground.

Andras Kirschner, the owner of Phyto Management, told us earlier this month that he had been paying rent on the Ward 7 warehouse since October 1, and that “any changes at this point that would require the business to move would likely further delay implementation of the program and hamper our ability to operate a successful business.” He also said that he did not plan to stand in the way of the area’s redevelopment, but thought that he could operate there for at least three to five years before having to move.

“The freestanding building Phyto has selected is ideal for our operational and security requirements because of its size, layout, newly upgraded electrical supply, and setback location down a private access road,” he said in a statement.