During Monday's regular meeting, Athens City Council passed an ordinance that will regulate the location of recreational cannabis, tobacco and vape sales facilities.
The ordinance, which stood for third reading on Monday, applies new location restrictions on licensed marijuana sellers and tobacco and vape sellers. The original ordinance stated all tobacco, vape and cannabis retailers must be located a minimum of 500 feet away from any school, public library, public playground, public park, or any other similarly licensed retailer. The ordinance also specified the number of cannabis retailers allowed to operate in various business districts throughout the city.
During the meeting, the list of location restrictors was updated to include churches. The suggestion was brought forward by Council Representative Alan Swank (4th Ward), who cited the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) regulations surrounding medical marijuana as his inspiration.
“The Ohio Revised Code specifically says ‘… school, church, public library, public playground or public park,’ and I can't imagine that we would want to or the state would want to or anyone would want to have reduced or restrictions for recreational marijuana as opposed to, or compared to, medical marijuana,” Swank said.
His motion to amend the ordinance to include churches prompted both council and citizen comments.
At-Large Council Representative Micah McCarey asked Law Director Lisa Eliason whether another public hearing on the ordinance would be needed to add the amendment. She stated there was no legal need for another public hearing, as the change directly reflects the ORC and was brought forward during a publicly accessible meeting.
Following McCarey’s quick clarification, Council President Sam Crowl opened the floor for public comment on the change.
Two citizens approached the podium. The first commended council on their decision to bring the ordinance forward and expressed his belief the ordinance will benefit the community. The second, Athens resident Rob Delach, shared his concerns about the impact on tobacco and vape sellers on Court Street.
“It makes sense, I think, for the dispensaries,” Delach said. “But if you look at the map I sent council earlier today ... it would exclude nine tobacco licensed businesses that are currently licensed from existing if something changed and they were no longer in business — they couldn’t be replaced.”
Delach questioned whether the targeting of tobacco retailers was intentional or simply a misunderstanding of the language in the ordinance. He expressed concern, although he does not smoke, as the addition of church to the language could be damaging to local business, he said.
“This was purposeful that we put this in and can join these together,” Mayor Steve Patterson said. “I would also state that, when you look at our B-zones, and in particular in the Uptown area, you know, we're constantly striving to change the variety of retail on Court Street. It's a challenging thing when you look and a majority of storefronts — we are who we are are you know — are drinking establishments. We have a large number of vape shops in the Uptown area. This doesn't prohibit them. It just puts a number on how many can be there and then there's the guardrails.”
Additionally, Patterson and Crowl each clarified the grandfathering of existing, licensed tobacco and vape retail establishments. This allows all existing smoke shops to continue to exist, but any new cannabis or tobacco retailers must follow the ordinance’s regulations.
The council approved amending the ordinance to include church in the list of regulating factors and chose to suspend the rules and unanimously pass the ordinance.
Athens City Council will next meet in committees at 7 p.m. Aug. 26 in City Hall, 8 E. Washington St., Athens.
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