WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — West Chester Twp. has become the latest Butler County community to extend its moratorium on businesses related to the recreational use of marijuana.
Trustees on Tuesday agreed to extend the moratorium on the cultivation, processing and retail sale of adult-use cannabis for 180 days. It extends the 360-day moratorium first imposed last December.
“We just want it to shake out — make sure all our T’s are crossed and I’s dotted,’’ said Trustee Mark Welch. “There are also some changes, some updates we need to make to our zoning to ensure that if a dispensary would come into West Chester, it would be in the right spot.”
Welch said this is the last moratorium on the matter he would support.
“If we don’t have our act together in 180 days, I’m not going to extend this moratorium anymore,” Welch said. “The people spoke a year ago and said ‘we want it (legal adult-use recreational marijuana). And in fact, 54% of West Chester voted for recreational marijuana.”
Zoning issues to be addressed include location for dispensaries and other related businesses, how many dispensaries would be permitted and whether to allow such businesses in the township.
Earlier this month Liberty Township also voted to extend its moratorium another six months, citing the uncertainty of regulations and how they would impact the community.
But in September, Fairfield City Council decided not to extend its moratorium after approving zoning changes to its code. Only one business could be located in the city — in the Ohio 4 corridor — to dispense both medical and recreational marijuana.
A medical marijuana dispensary opened in Oxford in early 2023 and a second has been granted provisional recreational licenses by the state.
Two businesses have submitted applications to open dispensaries in Middletown. Hamilton voted to continue its moratorium indefinitely last June.
Ohio became the 24th state to legalize adult recreational marijuana use at the polls Nov. 7, 2023. Medical marijuana use became legal in Ohio in 2016.
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