Chris Fontes says he once procured a Heber City business license within about six days. Recently, the state turned around his application for an industrial hemp growing license in about a week, he says.
But it’s been some 40 days since he submitted a business license application to South Salt Lake, and he and his business partner are still waiting for approval.
The owners of Meraki Farms, a company looking to grow hemp, say they feel like South Salt Lake’s officials have been dragging their feet processing this paperwork. Fontes and his business partner, Robert Allen, suspect the delay has to do with the nature of their business — although they know of nothing in South Salt Lake’s law that would preclude a hemp grower from settling in the city.