Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Medical marijuana ordinance OK’d
Vote brings city zoning regulations in compliance with amendment
BENTONVILLE — A new city ordinance outlines which zoning districts medical marijuana facilities will be permitted in while keeping them out of residential ones.
The purpose of the ordinance is to bring the city zoning regulations in compliance with the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016, Amendment 98 of the state Constitution in regards to which zonings dispensaries and cultivation facilities would be permitted, Shelli Kerr, planning services manager, told planning commissioners at their meeting Tuesday.
Commissioners approved 6-0 the ordinance without discussion. Commissioner Scott Eccleston was absent.
The state amendment allows cities to establish zoning regulations for dispensaries
and cultivation facilities provided they are the same as those for a licensed retail pharmacy, according to meeting documents.
However, the city’s code doesn’t define pharmacy as a land use. It instead includes the sale of “general merchandise or food… that includes… drugs…” in its definition of retail. Therefore, pharmacies are regulated as a retail use, and since Amendment 98 calls for marijuana facilities to be treated the same as a pharmacy, they too would be regulated as a retail use without the change of ordinance, according to meeting documents.
Small scale retail, less than 4,000-square-feet, is permitted in the downtown high-density residential, downtown mixed-use residential, neighborhood commercial, general commercial, central commercial, downtown core, downtown edge and light industrial zoning districts.
Large scale retail, more than 4,000-square-feet, is permitted in the general commercial and downtown core zonings.
“What the ordinance is proposing to do is to amend the zoning regulations by adding definitions for pharmacy, medical marijuana dispensary, medical marijuana cultivation facility and then to establish the zoning districts where those are allowed,” Kerr said.
The ordinance would remove downtown high-density residential, downtown mixed-use residential, downtown edge and neighborhood commercial from permitted zoning districts for pharmacies, medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities.
The permitted zoning districts would include general commercial, central commercial, downtown core, light industrial and heavy industrial.
The ordinance also removes the word “drugs” from the definition of retail use and “drugs and pharmaceutical products” from the definition of intensive industrial use, according to meeting documents.
Dispensaries will not be permitted within 1,500 feet of a school, church or daycare. Cultivation facilities will not be permitted within 3,000 feet of those types of operations, according to the ordinance.
The city has received numerous phone calls from people asking what the process would be to operate a medical marijuana facility in the city, Jon Stanley, city planner, said Friday.
No one has called specifically about this ordinance, but the Planning Department has received about 20 calls about the city’s regulations on medical marijuana, he said. He refers them to the state laws.
No one has submitted any plans to the city yet, he said.
The ordinance will no go to City Council for adoption.
A medical marijuana cultivation facility project proposed near Gentry has been submitted to the Benton County Planning Board. There will be a public hearing regarding it Wednesday. The board initially reviewed it at its Aug. 16 meeting.
In other business, Brian Bahr, interim community and economic development director, told commissioners the Planning Department has received “several applicants” to fill the city planner position Beau Thompson left vacant to take a position with the Water Department.
Interviews for the positions should begin next week, Bahr said.