Oregon: City considering pot dispensary rules

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Proposed legislation that would determine how the City of Oregon oversees recreational marijuana dispensaries will be presented Aug. 19 to city council’s committee of the whole.
Council president Steve Hornyak last week requested the city administration prepare a map that shows the location of the city’s commercial corridors, including the parcels zoned for C-2 general commercial district and C-5 Navarre Ave. business district, which would be the zoning classifications most suitable for dispensaries.
A state ballot issue approved by voters in November 2023 legalized the usage, possession, and home cultivation of marijuana plants.
Licensing of dispensaries is the responsibility of the Division of Cannabis Control, an agency of the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Steve Shrake, building and zoning inspection commissioner, said the state has established criteria for the location of non-medical dispensaries, including they must be at least one mile apart and not within 500 feet of a school, church, public library or park, playground, or day care center. Hornyak requested the map also reflect the locations of those facilities.
The dispensaries are also required to charge state and local sales taxes as well as pay a 10 percent excise tax.
Purchasers must be at least 21 years old. Citizens are allowed to grow six plants per person or 12 plants per household.
Hornyak, who chairs council’s economic development committee, also asked council members to consider whether zoning regulations should cover the exterior “aesthetics” of dispensary buildings, including fencing, signage, buffers, and window advertising.
Currently, a potential dispensary owner would have to apply to the city for a special use exemption to locate in the city – a process that would go through the city planning commission and city council for approval.
“My feeling is the State of Ohio has established pretty rigorous spacing requirements and use requirements as well as licensing requirements,” Shrake told council. “If they don’t get a license they can’t operate a dispensary.”
Hornyak asked council members if they had any strong objections to dispensaries locating in the city.
No one raised an objection but councilman Paul Drake said he’d like to see no more than two operating in the city.
The Division of Cannabis Control was authorized to issue the first dual-use (medical and recreational) dispensary certificates of operation on Aug. 6, allowing those dispensaries to begin selling non-medical cannabis.
The sale of non-medical cannabis may not begin until the licensee holder receives a certificate of operation.
The initiated state statute laid out a process for non-medical cannabis licensure that includes licensing applications and a timeline requiring that initial applications be available by June 7 and licenses be issued by Sept. 7.