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Council signals support to extend recreational marijuana moratorium as state policy and revenue rules remain unsettled
Summary
Development director Lucas Hare told council the city’s moratorium on recreational marijuana land uses expires in June; councilmembers indicated support for extending the moratorium while staff drafts ordinance language and tracks state-level rulemaking and revenue distribution.
Development Director Lucas Hare told the council on April 21 that the local moratorium on recreational marijuana uses is scheduled to expire in June and asked whether council wanted to extend it or move forward with location restrictions.
Hare summarized the options: extend the moratorium, adopt zoning restrictions on allowable districts, or require conditional-use approvals with conditions tied to location and operating standards. He noted interest from prospective retail operators seeking locations close to Franklin County (where additional retail permits are limited) and said the city could restrict locations by zoning district or by added buffer distances.
Several councilmembers voiced support for an extension through the end of 2025 while the state budget and guidance on revenue-sharing remain unsettled. Councilmember discussion included concern about how local hosting payments (a 36% share of a 10% local tax on sales) have been collected by the state but not yet distributed to local host communities pending state budget actions.
Law Director Boggs said staff would prepare the appropriate extension language and provide clarity; no ordinance was adopted at the meeting. Council indicated informal consensus to extend the moratorium and asked staff to return with draft ordinance language and a timeline.
Hare and councilmembers emphasized the city’s next steps would be to draft specific zoning or conditional-use language if council prefers to allow limited locations later; for now, staff will prepare a moratorium extension to allow time for state-level policy and local rulemaking.
