Commission votes to recommend 500-foot buffer zone for medical marijuana dispensary

A group that would like to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Poplar Bluff asked Monday that a buffer zone between their operation and schools, churches and state-licensed daycares be limited to 500 feet.

Members of the city’s planning and zoning commission agreed in a unanimous vote. Two members were absent, Len Morse and Mark Long.

The issue will now be sent to the Poplar Bluff City Council for a final decision. It is expected to be a workshop item June 17.

A map shows where a 500-foot buffer zone from schools, churches and state-licensed daycares in Poplar Bluff.

“I relied on the city planner to do the research and provide us with the best information available,” commission chairman Todd Sittig said after the meeting.

Sittig expressed reservations at a P&Z meeting in May about the state’s plans for medical marijuana.

Both Missouri and Butler County residents voted in 2018 to make it legal for specific medical uses.

A map shows where a 1,000-foot buffer zone from schools, churches and state-licensed daycares in Poplar Bluff.

Dispensaries are expected to open by the spring of 2020, with an application period for licenses starting in August.

State statute allows cities to set a maximum 1,000-foot restriction on dispensaries, and locations for the cultivation, manufacturing and testing of medical marijuana.

City planner Matt Winters told the commission in May that the higher restriction would push the businesses into the county, which has no zoning requirements. This would cost the city sales tax money, he said.

Attorney Steve Walsh speaks to Poplar Bluff Planning and Zoning Commission members Monday, June 10, on behalf of a client who wants to operate a medical marijuana facility in the city limits of Poplar Bluff. DAR/Donna Farley

Attorney Steve Walsh told the commission Monday he represented clients interested in doing business in the city.

“This is an opportunity for us. This is a reality for us,” Walsh said. “Some people may not agree with it, some people will agree with it, but it is a reality …

“My clients are good, solid people and are here to conform with the laws, and they are very stringent laws for these dispensaries.”

Some cities, such as Cape Girardeau, have set both a 500-foot and a 1,000-foot restriction, based on the area of town, Sittig said.

Poplar Bluff does not have enough space to make that feasible, he continued.

Sittig did question if the city could require conditional use permits for all types of medical marijuana businesses. The proposed ordinance only requires this for some locations of dispensaries.

A conditional use permit would require an additional approval process that includes planning and zoning, and city council approval before an entity opens.

Without a conditional use permit, businesses do not have to appear before P&Z or city council before opening.

“One of the things, in all of the literature I’ve read and the webinars I’ve watched, is that the state is discouraging cities from making the process more burdensome than they would on a regular business,” Winters said before the commission voted.

Voters have already approved the legalization of medical marijuana, Sittig said during the meeting.

“What we’re doing here is placing a control within the city ordinance, in case somebody would want to operate one of these facilities within the city of Poplar Bluff,” he said.

The proposed ordinance that will now go to city council defines the types of facilities and how they will be zoned.

Dispensaries would be allowed in the following districts, under the proposed ordinance: C-2 general commercial, C-1 neighborhood commercial, C-3 central commercial and CX-3 central commercial, mixed-use.

A conditional use permit would be required for dispensaries in C-1, C-3 and CX-3, but not in C-2.

Dispensaries are the only types of facilities that could require a conditional use permit, under the proposal.

Manufacturing, testing and cultivation would not require a conditional use permit, but would be limited to general and light industrial districts. Manufacturing and testing could also occur in some areas of general commercial districts.

Walsh’s clients said after the meeting this industry is being heavily regulated.

Alan Faraone, 60, Vince Faraone, 27, Kyle Vandover, 28, and Austin Boner, 24, all of Poplar Bluff, hope to open a dispensary together within the city limits.

They plan to apply for a license in August. Vince Faraone has a CBD oil business currently and Vandover has attended school to prepare for the business.

“Not anyone can get a license. It’s extremely strict,” said Alan Faraone, who added their plans include putting together a team of advisors that will involve a physician, pharmacist, people experienced in the cannabis market and others.

The state offers more points on applications that have advisors, he explained.

The group will also be working with doctors from The Green Clinics, said Vince Faraone. The Green Clinics, which have already opened a location in Poplar Bluff, are working with patients who want to apply for medical marijuana cards.

“Our goal is to get patients the medicine they need and to fight back on our opiate issue around here,” said Vandover. “The opiate crisis is pretty bad here and I feel like medical marijuana can help kick that back.”

The men added that locations outside of town would make it more difficult for patients to access the dispensaries.

“(The state) wants to make sure their patients have access easily to these clinics,” said Alan Faraone.

Qualified patients include those suffering from cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, intractable migraines, a chronic medical condition that causes severe pain, any terminal illness, other chronic medical concerns when approved by a physician, HIV and debilitating psychiatric disorders.

The state has said it will issue licenses to the top scoring 192 dispensaries, 60 cultivation facilities and 86 manufacturing facilities.