Should city restrict medical marijuana locations?

NORWALK — Norwalk City Council Tuesday night discussed a proposed ordinance that would restrict the locations of medical marijuana businesses. Council member Steve Schumm proposed the ordinance as a way to place restrictions on any businesses that would want to sell medical marijuana in the Maple City. According to the proposed ordinance, council would limit the location of medical marijuana dispensaries to the general business district and manufacturing zones. It also would limit dispensaries and cultivation facilities from being no closer than 500 feet to the lot line of any property zoned or used for residential purposes, school, church, public library, public playground or park. "If we are going to protect the city's citizens of Norwalk we're not prohibiting medical marijuana we're just trying to set some stipulations," Schumm said to start the discussion off. "I think you can't do anything after somebody gets the license if you're going to set any legislation in effect you have to do it before somebody gets a license." City law director Stu O'Hara worked on the ordinance with Schumm. "The purpose of this legislation is to set what zones within the districts within the city that they could allow the various types of medical marijuana," O'Hara said during council's work session."There are three types of licenses which can be made available by the state. One is for cultivation, another is for processing of the marijuana and the third is dispensary — to distribute the medical marijuana to patients." But some council members said the proposed ordinance is too restrictive. "A couple of comments on the legislation," said council member Matt Doughty. "I want to start by saying I wouldn't be in favor of treating a medicinal marijuana facility any differently than we would a drug store or liquor store in town. Second of all, as far as cultivation and agricultural growing of marijuana, it's not easy. It is not something that someone is going to come in to an R1 (residential district) and start growing a marijuana field in their backyard. That's not how it works. The state has extremely strict rules and regulations in place as to how those farms are run and operated." Council member Deb Lucal called the proposal "very restrictive." "Everyone has this stigma about marijuana and this is medical marijuana," Lucal said. "You don't grow it in your backyard. It's all controlled by government and all these different agencies and rules and regulations. It's the equivalent of really having a pharmacy just in a different way of dispensing medication so I would think if you're going to do a medical marijuana dispensary you would want to have it near a pharmacy. ... No need to put any more restrictions on this." City officials released a map Tuesday night that highlighted areas where medical marijuana businesses could locate, if the ordinance were passed. Those were in areas zoned for business or manufacturing. However, the map did not appear to reduce concerns by some council members that the proposed ordinance was too restrictive. That's because the map didn't show which areas zoned for business or manufacturing were within 500 feet of residences. "I'm a little confused by it because it looks like it is indicating all the locations in which we could currently or with this legislation be able to place a dispensary," Doughty said. "Unfortunately, I think this map fails to indicate where there are residences in place and most of the locations that are colored in for available use are within 500 feet of a residence currently, which limits the areas that we could potentially put a facility massively. ... It makes Norwalk an unusable town (for a medical marijuana business to locate). No one who looks at this map and sees what little places are left are going to want to come in here and put a business on some side street at the edge of town where no one is going to come. They're going to want to put it in a standard business location. For that reason, I do not support this legislation and do not think we should move forward with it." Council members agreed they wouldn't place the ordinance on the agenda until they get a more detailed map that shows which areas zoned for business or manufacturing are within 500 feet of residential areas. "I can't tell from this map where 500 feet is," said council president Steve Euton. "I cannot make an informed decision without that information." Norwalk zoning officer Mitch Loughton was busy updating the map Wednesday morning and said he thought it would be ready by Thursday. Ohio House Bill 523 legalized medical marijuana when it was passed in 2016. The bill allows people with certain medical conditions, upon the recommendation of an Ohio-licensed physician certified by the State Medical Board, to purchase and use medical marijuana. Under Ohio law, qualifying medical conditions include all of the following: AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, cachexia, cancer, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Crohn's disease, epilepsy or another seizure disorder, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, hepatitis C, Huntington's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, pain that is either chronic and severe or intractable, Parkinson's disease, positive status for HIV, post-traumatic stress disorder, sickle cell anemia, Spasticity, spinal cord disease or injury, terminal illness, Tourette syndrome, traumatic brain injury, and ulcerative colitis. According to the state's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Map, there are only three authorized medical marijuana dispensaries in the immediate area. Those are Terrasana, 1800 E. State St., Fremont, The Forest Sandusky, 1651 Tiffin Ave., and Firelands Scientific, 2300 University Dr. E., Huron. At this time, the state is not accepting applications for new licensed dispensaries, according to the state's website.