Talbot County Council refers updated cannabis zoning proposal — larger setbacks, bigger lot-size for cultivation — to Planning Commission

The Talbot County Council voted on Nov. 4 to send proposed amendments to the county’s cannabis zoning regulations to the Planning Commission for review.

Key changes in the draft proposal discussed at the meeting included increasing minimum setbacks from 500 feet (with prior allowance to reduce to 200 feet by consent) to 1,000 feet from any property containing a preexisting residential or institutional use; raising minimum lot size for cultivation from 20 acres (in the earlier proposal) to 75 acres for growing operations; and separating processing uses so that processing of cannabis grown on-site would be treated as agricultural while processing of off-site grown cannabis would be treated as industrial.

The draft also would permit cultivation and on-site processing in the BM and GC zoning districts and permit the use in the LI (light industrial) district, aligning the use with similar provisions for alcohol production and food/beverage processing. Attorney Adam Lin, representing a client seeking a Class I license for a project identified as Latitude 38, provided brief comments to the council about the practical scope of the Class I license and timing expectations.

The council motion to refer the draft to the Planning Commission passed on a unanimous roll-call vote.