P&Z sends proposal to extend cannabis drive-thru hours to City Council

A cannabis company seeking to amend Springfield city code by allowing marijuana dispensaries to operate a drive-thru until 1:30 a.m. had its proposal recommended for approval by the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission at its meeting last night.

P&Z voted 5-2 in favor of the text amendment, with commissioners Eric Pauly and Dan Scott voting in opposition. Commissioners Layne Hunton and Christopher Souliere were absent. The amendment will now go before City Council for a first reading at its July 13 meeting.

The submitting company was V3 MO Vending 5 LLC, which operates a Terrabis dispensary at 850 E. Kearney St. Nick Liaromatis, co-founder and chief legal officer with Terrabis, previously told Springfield Business Journal the company initially was seeking drive-thru services be allowed to operate 24 hours per day, seven days a week. However, that proposal, which was originally part of the March 12 P&Z meeting, was paused at the company’s request to amend its application, according to past SBJ reporting. 

Currently, Springfield ordinance states all marijuana and medical marijuana facilities must be closed to the public between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. According to the P&Z report, there are drive-thru liquor establishments in the city and current ordinances restricts sales of liquor between 1:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. The proposal by Terrabis seeks to change drive-thru hours to align with liquor sale requirements.

According to the development review staff report, the Springfield Police Department had no comments on the amendment application after reviewing the proposed revisions. In the prior report submitted in March that was seeking 24/7 drive-thrus, police officials said the amendment could set a dangerous precedent for businesses such as liquor stores to “submit requests to do likewise.”

After postponing the prior proposal in March, Liromatis said there were concerns noted in the city staff report that his company wanted to discuss internally and with the municipality before resubmitting it, according to past reporting.

Liromatis said in the new proposed amendment that it “represents a collaborative, measured approach developed following discussions with the chief of police and other city officials. It aligns cannabis operating hours with Springfield’s existing alcohol sales framework, eliminating regulatory inconsistency while maintaining appropriate oversight.”

Ryan DeBoef, a lawyer and lobbyist with Hahn DeBoef LLC dba Hahn | DeBoef Government Relations, represented Terrabis at the Planning & Zoning meeting. Terrabis opened its Springfield location in 2021 and DeBoef said the company operates nine dispensaries in Missouri and Illinois.

“Because of the volume of sales in their Springfield dispensary and their experience in other dispensaries, they believe it makes commercial sense for them to be open later,” DeBoef said. “It’s because there’s more sales of product, which obviously makes commercial sense, also makes sense for the city from a sales tax revenue standpoint."

There are nine marijuana dispensaries within Springfield city limits, according to the P&Z report. DeBoef said this amendment would only affect those state-regulated dispensaries and does not apply to vape and smoke shops in the city.

In comments prior to the vote, Pauly said that he felt “some concern that we are putting some of these businesses at a disadvantage” regarding those dispensaries that don’t have a drive-thru ability.

Scott, the commission’s vice chair, said he had trouble equating liquor sales and marijuana sales, and raised concerns about impaired driving.

“We have a track record of how alcohol sales are handled and the challenges around that. And I don’t see the track record for this yet,” he said. “It may happen at some point in time, but I have to respect the fact that whoever put these regulations in place did their own due diligence. I don’t feel comfortable unwinding their due diligence in a 10-minute presentation or a 15-minute presentation.”

Amendment 3, the state’s constitutional amendment which legalized recreational marijuana, does not place restrictions on operating hours of licensed cannabis facilities, according to past reporting. The amendment places authority with local governments to regulate operating hours for marijuana establishments.

Commission Chair Randall Doennig said he supports the amendment, adding that he believes marijuana should be available 24/7.

“To me, we’re talking about a drug. And a drug that has been proven to work for people for a number of medical reasons,” he said. “We’re saying, ‘OK, people, I’m sorry, but because your drug is also recreational, we’re not going to allow you access to it after 10 o’clock.’ And I have a really big problem with that.”