The City of Eustis Local Planning Agency voted unanimously on April 3 to transmit Ordinance 25-01 to the City Commission for consideration and, in discussion, asked staff to prepare an ordinance to prohibit any future medical marijuana dispensing facilities inside city limits while grandfathering the three existing dispensaries.

Ordinance 25-01, introduced by Mike Lane, development services director, updates the city’s table of uses and adds a community-meeting requirement for certain project types. "Tonight you’re looking at ordinance 25-01. And, basically, the first item is for community meetings," Lane said, describing thresholds for when pre-submission community meetings would be required.

The ordinance would require developers to hold community meetings before submitting projects that meet one or more of these thresholds: residential subdivisions of more than 10 lots; mixed-use and multifamily projects larger than 5 units per acre; commercial projects with buildings over 50,000 square feet; planned unit developments; and any future land-use change affecting properties larger than four acres. Lane said handouts and guidance would be made available at the city’s front counter if the table of uses is approved.

During discussion, City Attorney Sasha summarized Florida law on municipal regulation of medical marijuana treatment centers. "Florida statute does provide for two options when looking to regulate by ordinance for a municipality: either to ban any future medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facilities from being within city boundaries, or if we regulate them they would be treated the same way pharmacies are, with the exception that they cannot be located within 500 feet of any schools," Sasha said. She added that if the city bans future dispensaries, existing businesses would be grandfathered.

Board members spent the bulk of the meeting debating how to treat dispensaries. Members noted the city currently has three dispensing facilities within its limits; under a ban those would remain but new dispensaries could not replace them if they closed. Several members said they preferred a ban now with the option to revisit the decision later by ordinance.

There was no formal vote on a dispensary ban at the meeting; instead the board requested staff prepare an ordinance that would implement a ban on future medical marijuana dispensing centers while grandfathering the three already operating inside the city. Sasha and staff said any ordinance would also need to align with state law and that treating dispensaries like pharmacies would require amending the table of uses applicable to pharmacies as well.

The Local Planning Agency approved transmittal of Ordinance 25-01 to the City Commission for first reading. The ordinance will appear on the City Commission agenda for first reading; staff said they will return a drafted dispensary ordinance at a future date for public hearings and formal action.

Action taken: the Local Planning Agency unanimously voted to transmit Ordinance 25-01 to the City Commission for consideration and provided direction to staff to draft an ordinance addressing medical marijuana dispensing facilities.

Next steps: City Commission first reading tonight on Ordinance 25-01; a separate ordinance to ban future dispensaries will be drafted for future hearings and any public comment.