With Horn Lake still deciding whether to opt-in or opt-out of Mississippi’s new medical marijuana law, City Planning Director Chad Bahr cautioned the city to consider possible “negative externalities” should they decide to allow cultivation of marijuana in the city.
Bahr and his wife decided against buying a home on the south side of Chino Valley, Arizona, where he previously worked as a planner for the county, because the smell coming from an indoor marijuana cultivation facility was “like a giant skunk.”
“We decided against that because on certain days when the wind blew just right, it was very distinctive and it isn’t very pleasant,” Bahr said.
Cities in Mississippi have until May 2 to opt in to or out of the law.
Bahr shared some observations about the new law with the Board of Aldermen and pointed out other issues for them to think about from a planning perspective that could affect Horn Lake if they opt-in to the law.
“This is just something I was aware of in another part of the county that I had worked where medical marijuana had been legalized,” Bahr said.
Bahr said there are three planning aspects to the new medical marijuana act: cultivation, processing, and dispensaries.
He compared medical marijuana cultivation sites to large hog farm operations in his home state of Iowa, and cattle feed lots in Dalhart, Texas, a community in the panhandle of Texas.
Bahr said both of those facilities, like medical marijuana cultivation, come with “negative externalities” from a planning perspective.
“The cultivation facilities produce an odor, that negative externality,” Bahr said. “And it is quite strong, it is quite distinct. Each of these activities puts off an odor, but you may not think about it as you consider going forward as to what the city’s response should be to the act that was passed, and that is the cultivation aspect of the three land use aspects of medical marijuana.”
Bahr summarized some of the key points in the bill:
• A processor is defined as a facility having more than 3,000 pounds, while a micro processor is one under 3,000 pounds.
• Dispensaries must be located at least 1,500 feet away from each other.
• No dispensary would be able to locate within 1,000 feet of a school, church or daycare, but that distance can be reduced to 500 feet with the consent of those affected properties.
• Dispensaries and processors are allowed in areas zoned commercial.
• Cultivation facilities are only allowed in agricultural or industrial zones.
“The bill does talk about the zoning aspects,” Behr said.
Bahr recommended the city treat dispensaries like a pharmacy or doctor’s office for zoning purposes.
“Personally, if the city wants to go that route with the dispensary, I would try and treat it basically like what the bill was created for. The bill was created as a medical cannabis act,” Bahr said. “The idea is to dispense it medically to people. If we have a pharmacy or we have a medical doctor, if we allow that, I would recommend treating it in the same manner because it gives it the same treatment. It would be hard to argue against that because we are treating it in a like manner.”
Mayor Allen Latimer thanked Bahr for pointing out the odor concerns associated with cultivation facilities, and asked how the medical marijuana law would affect the city’s AR or agricultural residential zoned areas.
“If you would look into that because the board is going to have to make a decision pretty soon on whether they want to opt-in or opt-out,” Latimer said.
Bahr said he would have to do more research.
“I would have to look at the use charts and see if we would be bound to do something in the agricultural residential zones because we do have agriculture in the name,” Bahr said. “I think of (AR) as one of those districts where you see on the outskirts of town where it is rural, but it does have a residential component to it.”
Ward 4 Alderman Dave Young likened the odor of marijuana cultivation to another bad smell that locals are already familiar with.
“Around here we would relate this to the smell of a pulp wood mill,” Young said. “That’s rough.”
“They’re horrible,” Latimer agreed.
Bahr said he reached out to his former employer in Chino Valley for more insight about the different aspects of medical marijuana land use.
“Her email was ‘ugh,’” Bahr said. “That was the ending to her email. It is cultivated 24/7, 365 (days a year). And you can smell it all the time in that part of town. It is something to consider as you make your decisions.”
Latimer pointed out that there are also amendments in both the Mississippi House and Senate to the medical marijuana bill being debated which further complicates whether to opt-in or opt-out.
“We are kind of dog paddling as we go as far as which way we are going to go,” Latimer said. “If the board opts-out, they can come in later. But once you opt-in, you’re in.”
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