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Council adopts ordinance amendment to allow dispensary cultivation and manufacturing within city limits
Summary
On second reading the council approved amendments to licensing and land‑use chapters to permit registered dispensaries to engage in cultivation and manufacturing while clarifying that dispensary sales remain prohibited; language was added to protect office uses and caregiver retail activities.
The Sanford City Council approved on June 16 revised ordinance language to allow registered marijuana dispensaries to conduct cultivation and manufacturing inside the city, while preserving prohibitions on retail sales in certain land‑use zones.
Jamie Cole summarized changes made between the first and second readings following a zoning subcommittee review. The amendments add clarifying language to the licensing chapter to create a new dispensary cultivation category and to the land‑use tables (NAICS codes) to distinguish cultivation and manufacturing from retail sales. Cole said subcommittee added two words to clarify that office space shall not be operated as or used in conjunction with retail dispensary sales and added a sentence preserving caregiver retail activities already authorized under local ordinance.
Cole told council the edits were intended to reflect industry input without changing the core regulatory approach: “So that was some clarifying language, verifying that we are gonna continue to allow offices to operate under our ordinances, and this in no way shape or form is intended to stop that practice from happening.” He said the change permits dispensary cultivation and manufacturing while continuing to disallow retail dispensary sales in specified zones.
Council discussed the item briefly, thanked staff for expedited work and then moved and approved the ordinance amendments on second reading.
The ordinance will be incorporated into the licensing and land‑use chapters as part of the city’s regulatory code; councilors said further adjustments could come as the industry evolves.
