SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Proposed changes to the zoning regulations in South Kingstown would limit where retail recreational cannabis stores could open.
The draft of the changes were before the new Town Council on Monday, so that they could be advertised for a public hearing that’s necessary before passage.
The town is working at a brisk place to get the regulations in place. The office of Gov. Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation’s Office of Cannabis Regulation announced Tuesday that five licensed medical marijuana compassion centers have received state approval to begin selling adult use marijuana on or after Dec 1.
None of the five centers is in South Kingstown. The closest approved center is in Warwick.
McKee said the state’s locally based cannabis supply chain consists of nearly 70 licensed cultivators, processors and manufacturers in addition to licensed compassion centers.
Locally, Sweetspot Dispensary on Pershing Avenue opened in June and offers only home delivery of marijuana products directly from a grow facility in Warwick.
Licensed compassion centers like Sweetspot are able to distribute recreational marijuana if they pay a $125,000 state fee for a hybrid license to operate in the adult-use recreational market.
The town’s Planning Board and planners have been at work on regulations for future prospective retail cannabis operations.
The town’s exiting zoning ordinance permits the sale, cultivation and manufacturing of medical marijuana in the town’s Highway Commercial and Industrial districts. With the passage of a revised state Cannabis Act, the town has the option to permit or prohibit the sale, cultivation and/or manufacturing of adult/recreational cannabis.
On Nov. 8, local voters passed a referendum item that allows licensed retail sales of cannabis to adults.
The proposed amendments provide standards and an application process for adult/recreational cannabis permits in the town.
As written, the proposed amendments would allow for the sale, cultivation and manufacture of cannabis in a similar fashion to the town’s existing medical marijuana rules.
Retail sales would only be allowed in the town’s Highway Commercial Districts by special use permit, while other uses would be limited to the town’s Industrial I district, also with a special use permit.
In addition, any proposed retail operation would need to have direct ingress and egress to the facility via direct access from Route 108, or Old Tower Hill Road.
Cannabis facilities allowed by special use in the above zones also cannot be located within 500 feet of a school, and must include appropriate security measures as well as a buffer with residential areas, among other stipulations.
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