After a unanimous vote by the town board on July 23, recreational marijuana shops will be able to apply for a business license from the town at the end of August.
After months of discussion, the final step to set areas of town where marijuana shops can open was quick. No concerned citizens spoke during a public hearing, and no board members offered revisions.
Trustee Michele Black, the dissenting voice at the last vote on recreational pot, was absent, and Mayor Rachael Simbeck was on maternity leave.
The ordinance was written to keep recreational marijuana shops out of residential areas, Town Administrator Andrea Phillips said in the meeting.
The board passed regulations in June that would govern the operations of recreational marijuana shops. The board has also discussed a flat fee that would be levied on all recreational marijuana transactions, but no formal action has been taken.
The new land-use codes allow recreational marijuana to be sold in commercially zoned areas, the light industrial zone and the highway business district. The highway business district starts at Ervien Drive and runs west along U.S. 160 to North Spruce Street. The commercial area of town includes North Mesa Street and North Main Street from the U.S. 160 to West First Street. The light industrial zone is west of Cottonwood Park.
A business that cultivates and sells retail product will be allowed in the three districts with a special-use permit. But it will have to be less than 5,000 square feet, according to the ordinance.
Recreational marijuana stores without a facility to grow plants will be limited to 2,500 square feet in the highway business district. Larger shops will have to apply for a special-use permit in that area.
Facilities dedicated to cultivation would be allowed only in the light industrial part of town.
Buildings for testing and manufacturing would be allowed in the light industrial district and in the highway business district with a special-use permit.
Beacon Wellness, a medical marijuana shop on Willow Street, has expressed interest in selling recreational marijuana.