By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp. — During the Sept. 12 meeting, the township board of trustees approved unanimously two ordinance amendments pertaining to marijuana establishments for first reading.
“These are something Stuart (Cooney, Twp. attorney) recommended we do,” said Jayson Rumball, township supervisor. “As everybody knows, there is a marijuana item on the November ballot, so this says basically, if this does pass, we want to restrict those to General Industrial and Mixed use C-4.”
The ordinance amendments would only apply if the ballot measure to allow a marijuana establishment within Brandon Township passes on Nov. 8. It would restrict where an establishment could open to zoning that falls under mixed use or general industrial.
“We already allowed the medical in those areas,” said Rumball. “This is saying if it passes in November, we want to still restrict that to the GI and the C4 like we did medical.”
The current ordinance allows caregivers to grow marijuana for patients in those two zoning areas, but currently does not allow for retail establishments. This change would only go into effect if the ballot measure passes.
The ballot language says it would allow up to one marijuana establishment in Brandon Township, and was put on the ballot after a petition circulated in August received enough signatures to do so. If the ballot measure does not pass, this change will not go into effect.