Pinetop Lakeside council updates marijuana rules, keeps 1,000-foot school buffer

The Pinetop Lakeside Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday to amend two town code chapters governing medical and recreational marijuana, aligning local distance and facility-size rules with state permitting and adding a council-approved 1,000-foot minimum distance from schools. Jeremiah, a town staff member who presented the changes, told the council that “in review of our titles for medical and recreational marijuana, I found that they're actually illegal in the way that it was enacted.”

The revisions reduce some locational limits to match state and Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) standards — for example, the town’s medical chapter is adjusted to reflect the ADHS 500-foot standard for certain separations and to increase an allowable dispensary size from 1,000 to 3,000 square feet after staff review. Jeremiah said the changes were intended to “tighten up the ordinance to make it bottom line with state statute.”

Council members debated additional local restrictions. Vice Mayor (name on record) and Councilor Turner said they supported a stricter 1,000-foot buffer from schools; Councilor Turner moved to adopt the medical ordinance with that exception and the motion passed unanimously. The council later adopted the companion recreational marijuana ordinance with the same 1,000-foot school buffer; the presenter said the recreational chapter was reworked more extensively to avoid language that could be read as a blanket prohibition.

During the public hearing several residents urged caution. Edith Weber noted existing dispensaries in the region and urged the council to “stay within the town's budget constraints and follow the social implications of our communities such as the reason for having zoning restrictions in the first place.” David Wesley urged the council to delay narrowing setbacks until staff produce a map showing how many potential locations would be affected, saying the number of viable sites was “an unknown at this point.”

Council discussion referenced multiple guardrails beyond local ordinance: ADHS permitting, state statutes, and town requirements for building, safety, and police review. Jeremiah cautioned that overly restrictive local limits could be challenged as “unduly unreasonable” and that other statutory and administrative requirements already apply to any applicant.

The formal motions adopted by the council modify chapter 17.102 (medical) and chapter 17.114 (recreational) of town code, and the council recorded unanimous approval on both ordinances with the school-distance exception. The council directed staff to finalize ordinance language in line with the adopted motions and to update the town’s maps and permitting guidance to reflect the changes.