Findlay planning committee backs cannabis overlay with C2 requirement and map edits

The Findlay City Planning & Zoning Committee voted unanimously to recommend to city council changes to a proposed cannabis retail overlay district, including adding a requirement that only parcels with underlying C2 (commercial) zoning be eligible and making map edits to exclude certain parcels near sensitive uses.

Committee Chair Bridal Baumann, Ward 5, said the committee would forward legislation to council after incorporating map alterations discussed at the meeting and adding a code provision addressing underlying zoning. "So, we recommend that underlying zoning within the overlay district reflect C2 zoning," Baumann said as she read the prepared recommendation.

The recommendation follows a recent planning commission hearing, where the overlay received a favorable recommendation after roughly 20 minutes of discussion and one public question about whether the overlay identified specific sites or only established a district. Committee members and staff discussed several map changes at the meeting: removing parcels that are zoned M2 and eliminating parcels within 500 feet of the YMCA after staff said the YMCA may operate a daycare there in the future. Committee members also discussed adjusting boundaries around Findlay Digital Academy on Maincross Street to account for a 500-foot buffer.

Jacob, a city staff member who summarized the planning commission meeting, explained how the overlay would interact with underlying zoning. "The rezoning of the property would not change the ability to put a cannabis store there. It grants the...as a conditional use within the district and all the rights of the underlying zoning," Jacob said, adding that the overlay as currently written would allow conditional-use cannabis retail regardless of later changes to a parcel’s zoning unless the overlay text is revised.

Committee members debated whether the overlay should be written so a parcel’s current underlying zoning must be C2 to qualify. Several members said they preferred that approach because it would prevent a parcel rezoned to an institutional or residential classification from remaining automatically eligible. "I just like the fact that it's conditional use. And so no matter what happens, it's gonna come back for review," said Dan DeArment, 4th Ward, noting the city will still check state-required buffers (such as the 500-foot distance from certain facilities) when a store is proposed.

Committee members also discussed state-level rules that affect siting, including a one-mile separation requirement between retail facilities in the Ohio revised framework for cannabis retail. Staff noted the city code already includes a provision limiting retail cannabis to no more than two facilities within the Findlay corporation limits.

After discussion, a member moved to adopt the map changes discussed, add a provision that underlying zoning must be C2, and recommend adoption of the overlay legislation to council; the motion was seconded and carried by voice vote. Chair Baumann announced the committee's recommendation will be transmitted to city council with the noted edits.

Members and staff emphasized that state regulations and local conditional‑use review will continue to apply when individual operators apply for site approval, and that the city will verify the 500-foot buffers and other state requirements at the time of any application.

Pending city council action, the committee’s vote was a recommendation only; no ordinance was adopted at the meeting.