City proposes zoning regulations for medical marijuana

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Springfield City Council yesterday heard zoning regulation proposals for medical marijuana facilities as business interest heats up.

Proposed by Mary Lilly Smith, the city’s director of planning and development, the regulations lay out where such facilities would be permitted in Springfield after voters statewide in November 2018 approved Amendment 2 to legalize medical marijuana.

The proposed regulations cover medical marijuana cultivation, testing, manufacturing, post-extraction and dispensary facilities. Smith proposed the changes during a council lunch workshop, according to a news release.

All of the proposals include clauses stating they must be a certain amount of feet away from schools and churches. The majority have 1,000-foot separation requirements under the proposals, except for post-extraction and dispensary facilities, which would need to be 200 feet away from elementary and secondary schools, child day care centers and churches.

Dispensaries, which are stores where customers with medical marijuana cards from the state can purchase cannabis, would be permitted in 11 of the city’s 24 zoning districts: center city, commercial services, Commercial Street, general manufacturing, general retail, heavy manufacturing, highway commercial, industrial commercial, light industrial and restricted industrial, according to the release.

Cultivation facilities, which would be licensed by the state to grow and sell marijuana to dispensaries, would be allowed in commercial services, general manufacturing, heavy manufacturing, highway commercial, industrial commercial, light industrial and restricted industrial under the city proposal. The facilities also would require a conditional use permit if they are next to or across from a residential zoning district.

At testing facilities, the zoning proposal calls for locations in general manufacturing, heavy manufacturing, industrial commercial, light industrial and restricted industrial districts, according to the release.

Medical marijuana-infused manufacturing facilities are defined as plants that make edibles, ointments, tinctures and concentrates. The city is proposing they be allowed in general manufacturing and heavy manufacturing districts and have a conditional use permit if they’re near homes.

Post-extraction facilities, which are bakeries, confectionaries and producers of ointments and other products, would be zoned depending on their classification, according to the release.

Council is slated to hold a first reading with a public hearing on April 8 for the proposed zoning ordinance changes, followed by a second reading and vote on April 22, according to the release.

The state is scheduled to begin accepting licensing applications on Aug. 3.

Business of marijuana
At least two businesses have expressed interest in Springfield’s medical marijuana market.

Canna Bliss LLC, which sells a line of products centered around “cannabidiol,” opened in September 2018 at 210 W. Republic Road, Ste. 100.

Owner Jamie Tillman told Springfield Business Journal her goal is to make the 1,300-square-foot CBD oil store the first medical marijuana dispensary in Springfield. The shop employs four, and Tillman said she is on a lease for undisclosed terms with father James Tillman, who built the center. Products include oils, capsules, lotions, CBD flower and edibles, including a CBD cookie dough in collaboration with Crave Cookie Dough.

Previously owning Art Salon & Spa, Tillman also helped her father open the first Springfield location of First Watch. She opened a second Canna Bliss shop in Lebanon on Feb. 1.

The Green Clinics, which opened in Kansas City last month, is targeting a Springfield location by year’s end. The company pairs physicians with potential medical marijuana patients, recommending them for state-issued cards, according to past SBJ reporting.

SBJ Reporter Mike Cullinan contributed.