Medical marijuana zoning proposal to go before Cameron City Council
A proposal for regulating medical marijuana dispensaries will go before the Cameron City Council following unanimous approval by the Cameron Planning and Zoning Commission Monday.
As part of the proposed zoning regulation approve by the CPZC Monday night, incoming medical marijuana dispensaries must maintain a 300-foot distance from schools, churches and licensed childcare facilities and maintain ours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, which one potential medical marijuana provider found encouraging.
“It was very encouraging. I’ve looked at municipalities for over 70 locations in the state,” said Nicole Bassett with the Arizona-based Nirvana Center. “Some are more restrictive and some aren’t and it depends on if the municipality is landlocked by other municipalities. Cameron is a great area and I think we can really do good here and bring back to the community.”
During Monday’s special meeting Cameron City Attorney Patrick Cochran fielded questions and responded concerns from members of the CPZC, the public and the city council as he outlined the proposed zoning regulations. Basing it off other municipalities represented by his firm, Cochran said he sought to have a plan in place before the application process for Missouri dispensaries begins in August.
“Under [Missouri Department of Health and Human Services] rules any applicant for a facility, if a locality has adopted zoning restrictions, has to include those zoning restrictions and a narrative of how they are going to comply with them in the DHHS application. The reason why we’re doing this now is that if anybody went to the state level and it was adopted August 3, not only do our zoning regulations get to be enforced by Tim [Wymes, Cameron City community development director], the planning commission and the city council, but also DHHS gets a bite of that apple as well.”
The largest point of contention Monday night came with the distance a dispensary must be from a school, church or licensed childcare facility. Cochran said the state law of 1,000 feet virtually eliminated any development. Commissioner Debbie Hahn suggested the city take the same regulatory approach as it currently does with alcohol sales and limit the distance to 100 feet. The commission settled with 300 feet with some in the audience questioning the seemingly arbitrary nature of adding 200 additional feet, which limits dispensaries from locating to sections of downtown.
With the zoning proposal approved by the CPZC, it will next go before the city council during its first meeting July 8 as an ordinance for first reading. If approved, then the plan will receive a second and third reading July 22. Mike O’Donnell, CPZN chairman, said the haste to get legislation in place is because the state will soon begin processing applications and business will soon start deciding on municipalities to base their operations. With all of the regulations to hammer out, Bassett said she doubts dispensaries operations will begin Jan. 2020. If the Nirvana Center names Cameron as its next home, she said its primary focus will be to benefit the community.
“We’re looking at community involvement. I lived in Cameron for seven and a half years so I’m a previous Cameronite,” Bassett said. “We’re just looking to bring something to the community. It’s not all about money or business necessarily. We want to create access for patients and definitely have community involvement.”
