Delaware lawmakers are making an effort to loosen county-wide zoning restrictions on recreational marijuana dispensaries as market delays continue.
When lawmakers legalized recreational marijuana in the First State, they made it so no county could completely ban marijuana business, but that hasn’t stopped counties from passing restrictive zoning ordinances on where those businesses can set up shop.
In May of last year, Sussex County implemented a de facto ban on marijuana retail locations by deciding they could not be located within three miles of schools, churches, colleges, substance abuse treatment facilities or any other dispensary.
Virtually every town in Sussex County has banned marijuana business, and the county placed an additional 3-mile buffer zone between recreational dispensaries and municipal limits.
State Sen. Trey Paradee (D-Dover) says the legislature may be looking at legislation in the future to address the exorbitant amount of marijuana-business bans in municipalities throughout the state.
New Castle County followed with its decision in December. While its 1,000-foot buffer zone is much less restrictive than Sussex County’s, State Sen. Trey Paradee says license holders are struggling to find qualifying spaces in either.
“What they did in Sussex, is they intentionally made it illegal to sell recreational adult use marijuana in Sussex County — that's very clear," Sen. Paradee said. "But it's not just what has happened in Sussex, but New Castle — their requirements are also too stringent and there are literally just a few properties along Route 13 that would have been possible, and none of those are available."
Sen. Paradee’s bill would set 500 feet as the maximum restriction limit between a dispensary and sensitive locations at the county level and set half a mile as the maximum restriction limit between dispensaries — it does not affect zoning restrictions within town limits.
The legislation also ensures that existing medical marijuana dispensary that were granted a conversion license for a retail marijuana store be allowed to operate — a concern brought forward as zoning restrictions were being implemented.
It also requires that a county must allow the minimum hours of operation for a retail marijuana store to be 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays and noon until 8 p.m. on Sundays.
“Hopefully this brings a little common sense into the conversation and makes it so we can get these businesses up and running because currently all the license holders cannot find locations anywhere in Sussex or New Castle," Sen. Paradee said.
The bill currently awaits a hearing in the Senate Elections and Government Affairs Committee.
Sen. Paradee's legislation comes amid ongoing federal background check delays that have put the recreational marijuana market launch on hold.
As April seems to slip away as the projected market opening month in Delaware, State Rep. Ed Osienski (D-Newark) says he's making efforts to remedy the background check delays. This could potentially include having license holders sign an affidavit to confirm they are free of a criminal history to help move the process along.
"There are other ways to have background checks done, whether it be done through the State Bureau of Identification or maybe it's just as simple as having the principals of these businesses sign an affidavit attesting to any blemishes or lack thereof that they may have in their own backgrounds," Sen. Paradee said. "But this is long overdue. I'm frustrated, the businesses that have been awarded licenses are really frustrated, the activists are frustrated, and we really need the governor to intervene and we need to get some decisions made by the Office of the Marijuana Commissioner."
The governor's office is currently in the process of selecting a new marijuana commissioner following the resignation of Rob Coupe in January.
