City informs Akron recreational marijuana sellers they'll need conditional-use permit

Now that the legal sale of recreational marijuana has begun in Ohio, the city of Akron is making sure businesses know their obligations under a zoning ordinance passed last month.

On Tuesday, the first day of recreational sales, city officials mailed letters to six marijuana businesses operating in Akron, notifying them that they must obtain conditional-use permits.

City spokeswoman Stephanie Marsh forwarded digital copies of the letters to a Beacon Journal reporter on Thursday.

The ordinance passed by Akron City Council on July 22 requires the city's marijuana businesses to obtain permits from the Akron City Planning Commission and City Council.

Marsh said city officials expect the businesses to file applications for the permits soon.

While the city has not signed off on allowing specific marijuana businesses to begin recreational sales, Marsh said via email: "When someone requests a conditional use in order to bring their property into compliance, the City often will allow the conditional-use process to play out before taking additional enforcement actions."

Marsh in a phone interview said the zoning ordinance's passage on July 22 didn't give the businesses "a ton of time to be able to notify [us] before they were allowed to start selling, according to state rules."

City officials are encouraging the businesses to apply for conditional-use permits as quickly as possible, Marsh said, but she but declined to provide the Beacon Journal with a specific timeframe by which they need to apply.

She said city officials do not currently plan to issue penalties to businesses and would only do so if businesses don't show an effort to apply for new permits soon. When asked about penalties for zoning non-compliance, she pointed to a section of zoning code that lists a $100 maximum fine for a first offense.

Akron marijuana businesses plan to apply for permitting

Representatives from four of the six businesses that received letters − Klutch, Fire Rock, AYR and The Botanist − told the Beacon via email that they plan to follow all local codes and regulations.

A representative from one of the businesses that received a letter, Culture, declined to comment. And a representative from the other business, Galenas, did not provide comment aside from stating via email on Thursday afternoon that he had not yet received a letter but was planning to reach out to the city.

Representatives from two of the businesses said via email that their businesses pride themselves on being good partners with the communities they operate in and having good working relationships with those communities' local governments.

Pete Nischt, vice president of compliance and communications at Klutch Cannabis, said in an emailed statement that because the state has not issued specific rules for the recreational — also known as the adult-use or non-medical — market, the distinction between medical and non-medical product is made at the point of sale. Klutch cultivates and processes marijuana in Akron but does not have dispensary operations in the city.

Patrick Tillman, a representative at cultivator and processor Fire Rock, said via email: "Our goal is to always be a good neighbor in the communities in which we operate—and that includes complying with all local codes and regulations."

A spokesperson for AYR Wellness, which processes marijuana in Akron, sent the statement: "We are following state law and look forward to working with the city on any updated compliance requirements."

Bloom Medicinals hearing on August Planning Commission agenda

Bloom Medicinals, which operates a dispensary in Akron, submitted an application for a conditional-use permit, Marsh said. A hearing before the Planning Commission is scheduled for Friday. It's the first conditional-use hearing addressing a specific marijuana business's plans to begin non-medical operations in the city.

Bloom had not begun recreational marijuana sales as of noon on Tuesday despite having a dual-use certificate of operation from the state. But by Thursday evening, its website referred to its Akron dispensary as a "Medical and Non Medical Akron, Ohio Dispensary" that is "Now Proudly Serving Non Medical Customers."

A spokeswoman for Bloom and a local Bloom dispensary associate declined to provide comment to the Beacon Journal about the start of adult-use sales there.

Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: City informs Akron recreational marijuana sellers they'll need conditional-use permit