Planning board votes 7–1 to recommend ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, sets distance and reservation rules

The Miami Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board on Wednesday voted 7–1 to recommend that the City Commission amend the Miami 21 zoning code to permit medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facilities and to add a separate definition for pharmacies.

Jake Kern, assistant director in the Office of Zoning, told the board the draft ordinance adds distinct definitions for dispensaries and pharmacies, and creates supplemental regulations including distance separations, design standards and a reservation letter process. "One of the changes is . . . it adds pharmacies as well as medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facilities," Kern said in his presentation.

Under the proposed ordinance, dispensaries and pharmacies would be prohibited in the T3 transect zone and allowed in most other transect zones except certain residential transects; distance rules include separations of 1,500 feet between some transect zones, 500 feet to schools (subject to City Commission override), 300 feet to places of worship and 300 feet to public parks. Staff said a 3.5-mile separation applies to parimutual uses. The ordinance would create a reservation letter valid for six months, extendable to one additional year with documentation of active permits or leases.

Ian Petrayka, who identified himself with Acreman Law Office and said he worked with commissioners and staff on the draft, told the board the map of separation zones "completely black out[s]" some districts and that the measure aims to bring the city into conformity with state law to reduce repeated appeals and litigation. He also described a "smart exception" for pharmacies that operate as ancillary uses inside convenience or grocery stores so those common retail configurations would not be subject to the full distance separations that apply to standalone pharmacies.

Board members sought clarification about the pharmacy exemption and how reservations compare to those used for alcohol licenses; staff said the process is similar but the initial reservation period for dispensaries is six months (instead of three months for alcohol), with the ability to extend to a year by showing progress on permits or leases.

A motion to approve the resolution "as amended" passed on a roll-call vote, 7–1; Vice Chair Andres Lopez was recorded as the sole no vote. The board's action recommends the ordinance to the City Commission; it does not adopt the law itself. The board's clerk recorded the vote and the resolution will be forwarded to the Commission for consideration.

What happens next: the City Commission will receive the board's recommendation and will consider the ordinance language, any further amendments and a final vote. The board's action included technical clarifications to the pharmacy definition and to distance standards in certain districts.