Sussex County Council is starting to look at regulations it may enact under the Marijuana Control Act.
Council is examining how to zone marijuana stores and cultivation centers within the county since current code doesn’t address them.
Assistant county attorney Vince Robertson says after conversations with county staff zoning, marijuana stores in one specific zone is the early leader.
"We sort of looked across the board at all of our different zoning districts, and we were thinking that the C-3 heavy commercial district is the appropriate location because that's sort of our largest in terms of type of use commercial district. But also it's the one sort of location-wise on major roadways,” said Robertson. “We kind of looked at C-2s, those were smaller roadways."
Robertson notes it wouldn’t have been appropriate to put the stores in C-2’s because they would probably be on smaller parcels of land.
Zoning marijuana stores as a C-3 Heavy Commercial District would also have a conditional use so it would go through planning and zoning as well as Sussex County Council.
One suggestion for cultivation centers would be AR-1 districts which are for agriculture use.
While some Sussex County towns have opted to ban marijuana businesses under the state’s Marijuana Control Act, the county doesn’t have that option.
So, county officials are discussing how to handle marijuana legalization, especially as it pertains to municipalities banning marijuana business.
Those towns include Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, Dewey Beach, Seaford, Dagsboro, and Millsboro, and county officials say more may be coming.
Assistant county attorney Vince Robertson says one option is not allowing marijuana businesses near the border of those municipalities.
"No marijuana establishment could be located within 1 mile of any municipal boundary. The reason for that was if a town made the decision that they don't want these to occur within those municipal boundaries it is somewhat unfair to them to say okay well we're going to put it right next door to your municipal boundary, so that was one item," said Robertson.
Other possible rules include not allowing two marijuana stores within three miles of each other and banning marijuana businesses within a mile of churches, treatment centers, schools, and colleges.
The county is still reviewing the Marijuana Control Act rules and an ordinance will need to be crafted, introduced, and approved by council before anything moves forward.
