ATHENS, Ohio – Athens City Council voted Monday to amend and pass a recreational marijuana and tobacco zoning ordinance.
Council heard the third reading of Ordinance 0-65-24, with a proposed amendment from council member Alan Swank, 4th Ward. Swank proposed that the ordinance’s zoning limitations on tobacco and cannabis should include churches.
The ordinance originally mandated that no licensed tobacco/vapor product or cannabis product establishment shall exist within “at least five hundred (500) feet from a school, public library, public playground, public park…”
Swank said he wanted to add church to this list because children also frequent churches, and that it was “very, very important” to make the ordinance consistent with the state medical marijuana regulations.
ORC Section 3796.30 states that “no medical marijuana cultivator, processor, retail dispensary, or laboratory that tests medical marijuana shall be located within five hundred feet of the boundaries of a parcel of real estate having situated on it a school, church, public library, public playground, or public park.”
“I can’t imagine that we would want to, or the state would want to, or anyone would want to have reduced restrictions for recreational marijuana as opposed to — or compared to — medical marijuana,” Swank said at the meeting.
Athens Law Director Lisa Eliason reminded council that the state has not yet adopted regulations for recreational marijuana use. Because of this, the council thought it safe to parallel existing regulations on medical marijuana for the time being.
The council voted to pass the amendment.
In the public comment period, Athens attorney Bob Gall said that while recreational cannabis regulations are not final, the citizen initiative to legalize adult use included churches in its prohibited facilities.
“So, already, the statute that was adopted by initiative petition requires that churches be a prohibited facility, not just in the medical marijuana statute,” Gall said.
Mayor Steve Patterson said he “felt a sense of urgency” to pass both the amendment and the ordinance that night, “since it has been discussed ad nauseam in front of everyone.”
“This amendment is a fairly simple one to add ‘church’ to,” Patterson said. “I would like to get ahead of [this].”
On Patterson’s recommendation, council decided to suspend the rules to both pass this ordinance and amend it in one sitting. Had the council not suspended the rules, the amended ordinance would have come up for first reading at the council’s next meeting on Sept. 3.
Other ordinances heard on third reading at the meeting:
- Granting special rights-of-way at 810 E. State St. and 85 Elmwood Place.
- Changing member terms and quorum for the Affordable Housing Commission.
- Amending and executing a tax increment financing agreement for the developer of Woods Edge in University Estates.
- Authorizing Patterson to sign an agreement with the Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund.
Council also heard nine ordinances on first reading.
Athens City Council’s next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3, in Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also available online. Regular sessions are on the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays. Regular meetings are not held in July unless otherwise ordered by the council.
