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Council delays final vote on cannabis zoning ordinance pending state budget developments
Summary
Ordinance 33-2025, a zoning ordinance introduced by Council President Jordan and Mayor Thomas, remained on the Committee of the Whole agenda on April 22, 2025, but committee members agreed to defer final action until the council meeting on May 13.
Ordinance 33-2025, a zoning ordinance introduced by Council President Jordan and Mayor Thomas, remained on the Committee of the Whole agenda on April 22, 2025, but committee members agreed to defer final action until the council meeting on May 13.
Council President Jordan said he had “spoken with the Planning Commission Chair, Mr. Fred Cash,” and received a draft of the commission’s report recommending changes. Jordan told the committee he had reviewed the draft and suggested the ordinance be taken up at the May 13 meeting with an emergency clause to allow consideration for passage that evening.
The committee discussion centered on a pending state budget bill in the Ohio Senate that Jordan said includes “a wholesale amendment to the current cannabis statute” and would, if enacted as drafted, prohibit local regulation of cannabis businesses after the statute’s effective date. Jordan also said the Senate budget proposal would reduce the city’s share of the cannabis excise tax from 36% to 20% if it remains in the bill.
Nut graf: Committee members deferred final action to allow council review of the Planning Commission recommendation and to wait for the state budget process, which committee members said could change both the city’s authority to regulate and the local tax revenue picture.
No formal vote on Ordinance 33-2025 occurred at the April 22 committee meeting. Instead, the committee directed that the ordinance be placed on the council agenda for May 13 with an emergency clause if members decide to move forward then.
The committee record shows the ordinance had been through earlier readings and that the Planning Commission’s draft report was available to council members before the April 22 session. The city did not provide the commission’s report text in the committee discussion.
Ending: The council’s May 13 agenda will carry the ordinance for possible final action; if the state budget bill’s provisions remain, council members indicated they would consider an emergency clause to act before any change in state law took effect.
