The proposed changes, which include a ban on marijuana retailing within 1,000 feet of schools, “please no one,” but must be adopted, their lead sponsor told a sharply divided audience at a special legislative session.
The proposed zoning would kill a plan by Andy Zeitlin and Caryn Cohen, below, to open a dispensary next to a liquor store on West Street, above. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
On the agenda for the special session was a proposed overhaul of the 2021 zoning law to limit where cannabis businesses, from cultivation to retail sales, can operate.
Drafted by the council’s code committee – councilmembers Michael Ballard Angela Mirandi and John Jackson – the zoning changes would prohibit cannabis businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of “a public or private school, playground, or housing facility owned by a public housing authority,” or “500 feet of parks, houses of worship, and daycare centers,” it states.
Exempted from the restriction are businesses in the Highway Development zone along Newman Springs Road.