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Princess Anne ordinances would ban on-site cannabis consumption, set setback and zoning limits
Summary
The town commissioners introduced an ordinance to amend Princess Anne27s zoning code to regulate cannabis businesses, aligning dispensary zoning with alcohol rules, imposing 1,500-foot setbacks from schools and child-care, a half-mile buffer between cannabis businesses, and an explicit ban on on-site consumption.
Princess Anne commissioners introduced an ordinance on June 3 that would add new zoning rules for cannabis businesses, prohibit on-site consumption establishments in town, and set distance limits between cannabis facilities and sensitive uses.
The ordinance text, read into the record by the town administrator, cites the Maryland Cannabis Reform Act and the town27s authority under the Annotated Code to amend Chapter 163 of the Princess Anne town code. The administrator said the changes are intended to "establish new provisions governing cannabis businesses and alcohol beverage stores in the town." The proposal aligns dispensary locations with existing alcoholic beverage store districts, permitting them in the C-1 and C-2 commercial zones and reserving processing and growing as special exceptions in industrial districts.
The draft includes specific separation requirements: a cannabis business may not locate within 1,500 feet of a preexisting primary or secondary school, licensed child care center or registered family child care home, playground, recreation center, library, religious assembly facility, or public park. The measure would also bar a cannabis business from being within 2,640 feet (half a mile) of another cannabis business. "A cannabis on-site consumption establishment is prohibited within the town of Princess Anne," the town administrator said during the reading.
The ordinance also spells out measurement rules (setbacks measured from property boundaries) and provides that the town Board of Appeals may modify separation requirements by special exception. Standard severability language and a clause making the ordinance effective upon final passage are included.
Why it matters: Maryland27s 2023 Cannabis Reform Act gives localities authority to regulate zoning and certain aspects of cannabis businesses; the proposal would allow cannabis retail while sharply limiting where consumption and production-related operations could locate inside Princess Anne, and it precludes on-site consumption entirely.
What happens next: Commissioners said the ordinance will need to go before the Planning Commission for review before any final reading or adoption. No final vote was recorded in the meeting transcript; the item was discussed and referred for Planning Commission consideration.
The reading quoted in this article was taken from remarks and the ordinance language recited on the record by the town administrator during the June 3 meeting.
