County may want to chill out on pot dispensaries

Monroe County voters went big for medical marijuana in November, but a county proposal could slow the opening of local places to legally buy it.

“Medical-marijuana dispensing facilities are a new and unique use which is not currently addressed” by Monroe County’s complex development rules and comprehensive land-use rules, county attorneys say.

County commissioners, meeting Wednesday in Key West, will be asked if they want to pursue a temporary moratorium on issuing permits that would lead to the opening of a medical dispensary in the unincorporated county.

Municipalities in the Florida Keys can make their own determination on suitable zoning and rules for medical-marijuana dispensaries, which now are legal but subject to stricter regulations than Colorado, California and other states. The Marathon City Council is expected to finalize its six-month moratorium when it meets Tuesday.

The moratorium, allowed under a so-called “zoning in place” process, would provide time to take public comment on suitable rules and locations for the marijuana dispensaries.

Staff recommends holding “a first public hearing on a temporary moratorium on the acceptance of applications for, the processing of, and the issuance of development permits, site plan approvals or any other official action of Monroe County permitting or having effect of permitting new medical marijuana dispensing facilities.”

In statewide approval of the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative (Amendment 2 to the Florida Constitution), voters passed it with more than 71 percent of the balloting.

Monroe County was even more in favor with 80 percent (33,798) of local voters approving medical marijuana “for debilitating conditions.”

Ryan Padgett, an attorney for the Florida League of Cities, told the News Service of Florida that many communities have the same concerns about marjuana-dispensary sites.

“I don’t know that there’s that many cities that are hard-core against it,” Padgett said. “A lot of them are in the sense of: If we’ve got to have it, that’s fine, but we want to make sure they’re in the areas where it’s safe, away from traffic, away from schools and all that sort of stuff. This isn’t a CVS or Walgreens.”

This story was originally published February 11, 2017 at 8:50 AM with the headline "County may want to chill out on pot dispensaries."