FAIRFIELD, Ohio — It appears Fairfield’s moratorium on recreational and medical marijuana sales in the city could end as early as next month.
Fairfield City Council is considering changes in zoning that would permit various types of marijuana businesses. Fairfield Development Services Director Greg Kathman said he and his staff, based on a council work session several weeks ago, drafted proposed changes.
“There was not universal agreement on direction but we heard enough that we decided to go forward and make some proposed legislation,” he said. “Obviously, there are opportunities to amend or change as you and the planning commission want to make amendments to that legislation.”
The Planning Commission approved the zoning code proposals by a 7-0 vote without changes or recommendations.
Changes would allow cultivators, processors and testing laboratories within the M-2 general industrial zoning district without any additional standards required. However, there would be additional standards for a dispensary to operate in either the C-3 or C-3A general business districts or the Special Entertainment (SE) zoning district.
There are nine additional local standards a dispensary must meet, including limiting the number of dispensaries to just one. Other standards include allowing an adult-use (recreational) and medical dispensaries to operate within the same location, it must be a stand-alone building owned by a single user and have a minimum of 100 feet of street frontage on Ohio 4 (the frontage requirement does not apply to the SE district, which is Jungle Jim’s).
Additionally, dispensaries are not allowed to operate within 500 feet of various public, educational and religious properties, such as schools, churches, the library and parks, which is the same as state law.
Kathman said he believed mimicking the state law’s 500-foot separation was the right move for the recommendation. He and his staff looked at a 1,000-foot separation but said “It would be a defacto prohibition. If we’re going to allow one, they have to go somewhere.”
These local rules would be in addition to some of the state rules for adult-use dispensaries, which more than 300 are estimated to open by the end of the year. There are already some operational as dual medical and adult-use dispensaries in Butler County.
Council did amend the moratorium via a 5-1 vote, eliminating the Sept. 10 end date based on when and if the City Council approves the zoning changes, which would be considered at its Sept. 12 meeting. The moratorium would end on the effective date of any zoning code updates related to recreational and medical marijuana. Councilman Matt Davidson voted against the legislation and was also against the previous moratorium.
Council member Adam Kraft, who’s been a supporter of allowing a dispensary in the city, said voters spoke in November.
“We had a chance to hear the voters’ opinion,” he said of the November vote. “The majority of the entire city was in favor of this.”
Ohio became the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana when voters on Nov. 7, 2023, supported Issue 2. The election issue enacted adult-use cannabis as an initiated statute in the state’s revised code, taking effect on Dec. 7. The vote totals in Fairfield practically mirrored the state, which saw 57% of voters supporting the issue. Fairfield voters were in favor with 57.86% of the vote (and 34 of the 38 Fairfield precincts supported the issue).
Though Fairfield could be the next city in Butler County to allow adult-use and medical marijuana dispensaries, other cities either have recreational and medical marijuana dispensaries operating or are expected to see businesses open.
The city of Monroe already has dispensaries either approved to operate or already operating. The city of Oxford saw its first medical dispensary, Consume Oxford, open in early 2023. That business and another one have been granted provisional recreational licenses by the state. Two businesses have submitted permits to open dispensaries in Middletown.
The city of Hamilton continued its moratorium by way of a 6-1 vote in June, eliminating the deadline. Councilman Joel Lauer voted against the extension.
This story originally appeared on journal-news.com.
Watch Live:
