The Pauls Valley City Council passed a new ordinance Tuesday night restricting the types of medical marijuana facilities that can be located within city limits. It also requires permits for retail marijuana businesses and those growing plants for personal medical use.
“The emphasis, the basic premise is we don’t want a big grow house in the city limits,” Councilman Jonathan Grimmett said. “It shouldn’t affect anything that’s going on now, it’s more of a preventative measure.”
The ordinance prohibits commercial marijuana grow houses, wholesale marijuana operations and marijuana storage or processing facilities within the corporate city limits.
It also establishes new regulations for retail marijuana businesses, requiring a permit and business license from the city to operate legally within municipal boundaries.
A fee structure for the permits and licenses has not been set yet.
The ordinance requires retail marijuana businesses to be located in an area zoned for commercial use, and it establishes proximity regulations preventing them from being within 300 feet of a library, museum, public playground, childcare center, public park, juvenile and adult halfway houses, correctional facility, substance abuse treatment center or another medical marijuana facility. They also have to be at least 1000 feet away from schools.
The hours of operation for retail marijuana businesses will be limited to Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. They will be required to close on Sundays, as well as on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and July Fourth.
Pauls Valley’s Planning and Zoning Commission has been working with Assistant City Manager Don Wageman and City Attorney Jay Carleton for several weeks to research and shape the content and language of the ordinance. Wageman said they also consulted with several other cities who have similar ordinances in place.
There are currently 13 dispensaries with Pauls Valley addresses licensed by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, according to OMMA records. Wageman said he believes six of those are within the city’s boundaries and another three are just outside the boundaries.
Those existing businesses will be required to obtain licenses and permits from the city when their state licenses come up for renewal, Wageman said.
Medical marijuana patients growing plants for personal use will also need to have a permit from the city under the new regulations. A fee for those permits has not been set yet.
Under the ordinance, personal growers are required to secure access and entry points to residential properties used for marijuana cultivation with “lock and key or equivalent” at all times, except for when the permit holder is present.
Plants must be grown indoors, out of sight of public rights-of-way, and cannot be grown in a manner that constitutes a public nuisance.
“A public nuisance may be deemed to exist if growing marijuana produces light, glare, heat, noise, odor or vibration that is detrimental to public health, safety or welfare or interferes with the reasonable enjoyment of life and property,” according to the ordinance.
“Right now we don’t have any idea how many personal grows there are in Pauls Valley. This will help us police it, and know how many there actually are. And to keep them in check and make sure they don’t go from a personal facility to a commercial facility,” City Manager James Frizell said.
The ordinance also prohibits smoking or using marijuana on city property.