City unenthused by establishing municipal marijuana marketplace
The Columbus Council updated its application review policy by extending the evaluation timeline to any planning commission item that needs a public open forum to improve workflow and communication between the council and planning commission.
This shift was brought up at the council meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 14, and approved at the joint meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 21, despite some initial planning commission hesitation.
In mid-February, council member Janet Hegland explained that reviewing applications took longer many years ago, when the city operated under an unwritten rule. That rule abided by a two-week break between an applicant’s public hearing to when the council would potentially make a final decision on the topic.
“We were operating that way for the most part, I think that when time went on, I think the planning commission felt more pressure to try to turn these applications around faster,” Hegland said.
The timeline shifted from a two-week period to a weeklong turnaround, putting stress on the council to fully review an application and staff to make changes under a tight deadline.
“You don’t always have the time in that week to look through everything in the detail that we want to,” Sue Wagamon said, favoring the two-week application timeline.
“Sometimes this time interval is not adequate to have thorough investigations,” interim City Administrator Jack Davis said.
Under the new policy, all applications will be subjected to this longer timeline, unless an applicant can explain the necessity of moving faster. In theory, if an application is discussed and open forum is held at the Wednesday, March 6, planning commission meeting, the earliest it would be discussed for final approval is at the Wednesday, March 27, council meeting.
At the joint February meeting, planning commission chair Lynn Carver-Quinn was initially hesitant that all applicants would need to wait at least two weeks for final council approval, even though some applications may be straightforward.
“There are some cases where we’re ready and we feel ready and that’s what a planning commission is supposed to do. … If you want to make it policy, I’ll follow it; to me it’s micromanagement of a planning commission that you appointed to do a job,” she said.
Ultimately, she understands that more time during this approval process could lead to more thorough investigations into projects throughout the city.
“We need to be consistent on what we’re doing so that somebody doesn’t say, ‘Well, I thought I’d be done in one sitting,’” planning commissioner Robin Wood added.
Municipal marijuana?
Even though cities will be permitted to operate their own municipal cannabis shops, similar to municipal liquor stores, Columbus doesn’t initially see that as a venture it wants to take on.
“While this may seem like an attractive option, I still think it’s something that needs to be studied in great detail. The dialogue can begin tonight, but it’s a deep subject and we’re still navigating this thing partially blindfolded,” Davis said.
Establishing a municipal cannabis store would require the city to purchase a building, or construct one, and hire and oversee employees of a retail business. On top of potential staffing struggles other businesses are experiencing, there are too many unanswered questions about whether or not operating a federally illegal business would exempt it from receiving federal funds.
“The risk, with regards to the federal funding, is that sale of cannabis is prohibited under federal law. And when we make an attestation for federal grant dollars, that we are in compliance with all federal laws, we may not be able to fully make that statement,” City Attorney Megan Rogers said.
The idea that Columbus could lose federal fiscal support due to operating a municipal cannabis shop is enough of a deterrent currently.
“To me, it makes more sense to have a business person run a retail store and not government. That just seems like an oxymoron,” Wagamon said.
“You’d have to build a $3 million building unless we’re going to sell it out of the fire hall or something,” Mayor Jesse Preiner added.
The joint discussion was to primarily prompt the council and planning commission to begin thinking about what, where and how its retail cannabis shop could operate in the city. City attorneys believe the city will have agency over those elements, although there is still a lot of ambiguity to be resolved related to the new legislation.
Like many other cities, Columbus approved a cannabis moratorium preventing any commercial manufacturing or selling of the product until the state’s Office of Cannabis Management is operational and regulating businesses.
Most Popular
Comments / 0