Public unease spurs council consideration on dispensaries in city limits

Concerns from the public about the number and location of marijuana dispensaries in town spurred the Whitefish City Council to meet for a work session last week to discuss whether changes need to be made to the distancing requirements in the marijuana facilities ordinance.

One potential change to the ordinance includes increased buffering between dispensaries, schools and churches. Another would amend the regulation regarding whether a dispensary's address on the same street as a church or school.

Ultimately, the council informed staff of their desire to initiate an interim zoning ordinance and then hold a work session to give Whitefish Planning Director Dave Taylor more direction on what they would like to see in the ordinance.

Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed interim zoning ordinance at the regular meeting on Feb. 21. If passed, it will go into effect immediately and remain in effect for six months. In that time, no applications for new marijuana dispensaries will be processed.

During that time, while the council studies the issue and considers changes to the marijuana facilities ordinance, all uses that may be in conflict with the potential zoning proposal are prohibited.

“The public is who we're here to serve and their opinion is (that) there are too many, so let's pause, let’s look at the issue,” Councilor Steve Qunell said. “It doesn't mean we’re going to change anything but we’re going to take another close look at it.”

According to Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacobs, interim zoning allows cities to pass ordinances, without following procedures normally required for ordinances, to protect the public safety, health and welfare.

If council decides to make changes to the current marijuana facilities ordinance, the amendments would go to the planning board for a public hearing, then to council for a public hearing.

Currently, in Whitefish, there are 11 active permits within city limits with only five dispensaries now operating. Each conditionally permitted location has 18 months from the date their permit was approved to open or show they are making progress or their permit expires.

Taylor’s report states that under the current regulations and buffering requirements, no additional dispensaries could be located with a Central Avenue address and there are no current applications for any new dispensaries on Central Avenue or in the vicinity.

Yet, concerns over the number of shops and their proximity to churches, schools and other marijuana facilities have been raised.

With regard to buffers from schools and churches, the current regulations in Whitefish defer to the state regulations. When the regulations were adopted, those regulations required a 500-foot distance from the nearest entrance of a school or church to the nearest entrance of the dispensary, if both buildings were addressed on the same street.

Additionally, the Whitefish city code also prohibits dispensaries on Spokane Avenue between Railway Street and East Second Street.

State law allows cities to be more restrictive with regard to where marijuana facilities can operate, but they cannot be less restrictive.

Taylor offered the council several options, the first of which was to leave the city regulations as they are because there are very few locations left that would not be restricted by the existing buffering requirements.

Another option was to wait and see if the state legislature changes the regulations and distancing requirements. Draft HB 265, which would have expanded the distance to 1,000 feet and eliminated the exemptions for different streets or door locations, was recently tabled in the legislature.

Two other choices were to add more restrictive distancing requirements or make all further applications for marijuana facility licenses a full conditional use permit rather than an administrative conditional use permit.

Councilors shared thoughts about the space for and the economic feasibility of additional facilities.

“There’s not very much room left,” Taylor said. “You’re not going to see a bunch more of these things coming in.”

While the city has five facilities in operation, the question of economics was raised. Councilor Andy Feury suggested the number of shops in town will be dictated by the number that Whitefish can support.

Since the interim zoning ordinance can only be issued in the interest of protecting public safety, health and welfare, councilors discussed whether the facilities’ existence is such a threat.

“On the moral side, health issue side of it, I have a really hard time buying those arguments,” said Feury. “Half the kids going to middle school walk past how many bars on their way there?”

Taylor reminded the council that the City of Whitefish waived its distancing requirement for bars from schools and churches voluntarily in the 1970s.

In the end, the interim zoning ordinance was the council’s choice so they can study the issue further.

“If we're that concerned about this issue, I'm not convinced that we should be, but if we are, as a council, it seems that we do the (interim zoning ordinance) in two weeks and study it,” Qunell said.