Cape Council members clash over proposed buffer zone for medical marijuana facilities

Cape Girardeau City Council members clashed Monday over whether to allow medical marijuana facilities to be within 500 or 1,000 feet of schools, day cares and churches.

City staff and the planning and zoning commission had recommended medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation and other associated facilities be allowed only in parts of four nonresidential zoning districts, and not within 1,000 feet of existing churches, day cares and elementary and secondary schools.

City of Cape Girardeau

But Ward 1 Councilman Daniel Presson and Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard advocated during Monday’s study session for a 500-foot separation.

Ward 6 Councilwoman Stacy Kinder and Ward 3 Councilman Victor Gunn backed the 1,000-foot buffer zone.

Mayor Bob Fox and Ward 5 Councilman Ryan Essex did not take a stand on the buffer zone issue during the meeting. Ward 2 Councilwoman Shelly Moore was absent.

Presson said a 1,000-foot buffer would keep marijuana dispensaries out of the historic downtown. It would largely confine marijuana dispensaries, growing operations and other associated facilities to areas along Interstate 55 and a “handful of other places,” he said.

City of Cape Girardeau

Guard said lowering the distance to 500 feet would open up the opportunity to redevelop some Broadway buildings for marijuana businesses. Some buildings, he said, could benefit from such redevelopment.

According to Presson, the City of Rolla, Missouri, is considering adopting a 500-foot buffer zone, and the City of St. Joseph, Missouri has a 300-foot restriction.

Presson said he doesn’t want Cape Girardeau to lose out on the sales tax that would be generated from medical marijuana businesses and the jobs it offers.

“I want those jobs,” he said.

Presson said the council needs to consider what is going to “drive revenue” for city government.

City of Cape Girardeau

Cape Girardeau needs to be competitive with other cities seeking to attract medical marijuana businesses, he said.

“You have to be proactive on this and not reactive, Presson said.

Guard agreed. He said “serious dollars” will be coming into the state from medical marijuana. The state is slated to start taking applications for medical marijuana businesses Aug. 3.

Whether council members have personal objections to marijuana is not the issue, according to Guard.

“The cat is out of the bag at this point,” he said, referring to voters statewide having legalized medical marijuana.

Both Presson and Guard asked city staff to provide map overlays showing the differences between 500-foot and 1,000-foot buffer zones in Cape Girardeau.

City of Cape Girardeau

Separate maps shown at Monday’s study session indicated the 500-foot limit would open some of the city’s downtown to medical marijuana dispensaries.

City planner Ryan Shrimplin said Marla Mills, executive director of the Old Town Cape downtown revitalization organization, supported the 1,000-foot buffer.

But Guard said he wants to hear from other downtown business and property owners on the issue.

Council members Kinder and Gunn said they favor keeping the 1,000-foot buffer zone as outlined in the constitutional amendment.

“I support what the voters of Missouri did,” he said.

Kinder said she doesn’t want marijuana businesses to be within sight of schools. She said that would be a bad public relations move for the city.

Council members made no decision Monday.

Shrimplin, the city planner, said the council needs to approve zoning regulations for medical marijuana businesses before the state begins taking license applications in August.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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