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Dover City Council approves ordinances for recreational marijuana operations

Roman Battaglia
/
Delaware Public Media

Dover City Council passed two ordinances Monday for recreational marijuana operations in municipal limits.

The ordinances allow marijuana cultivation, manufacturing, testing and retail stores in Dover with zoning rules. This does not extend to downtown, where no sales will be permitted.

The amendments have been in the works since city council established a moratorium on recreational marijuana operations in July.

Council members raised some issues with the ordinances at an October meeting, with one saying they wanted to see dispensaries but not cultivation and manufacturing facilities.

Councilman Fred Neil said he thinks they had to approve the ordinances.

“Because what we're trying to do is to place it at the best possible places that we can, whether it's retail or whether it is for the growing of the product,” Neil said.

Dover’s Planning Commission recommended City Council deny both proposed ordinances.

But if it did, Council would likely not have time to put something else in place before its recreational marijuana moratorium expires at the end of December, according to principal planner Dawn Melson Williams.

“There either needs to be an ordinance that places them in a specific zone with conditions, something that prohibits it, or you could certainly choose not to do anything. Not doing anything means we have to look at it like any other retail establishment in our zoning ordinance.”

The ordinances can be amended in the future.

With degrees in journalism and women’s and gender studies, Abigail Lee aims for her work to be informed and inspired by both.

She is especially interested in rural journalism and social justice stories, which came from her time with NPR-affiliate KBIA at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo.

She speaks English and Russian fluently, some French, and very little Spanish (for now!)