Harrington City Council approved an ordinance banning marijuana retailers in city limits at its meeting March 17.
While recreational marijuana sales are legal statewide, municipalities have the ability to limit retail within city limits.
Harrington followed several other municipalities in barring sales, including Milford, Rehoboth Beach and Milton.
Harrington Mayor Duane E. Bivans said he’s glad the city had the option to limit sales for now.
“We're more or less an agricultural-based type community. A lot of farmland, a lot of open air activity, people being outside. That's not something that we find it's a welcoming thing for us at the present time,” Bivans said.
City manager Normal Barlow concurred.
“It's just some of the unknowns on what this would bring to the community,” Barlow explained.
Bivans said things could change in the future, but for now he and City Councilmembers are focused on community members who don’t want to be exposed to the smell outside.
“Even though it may be legal as far as recreational use, it's also in an area where people already have all kinds of other health issues, and that just being able to float around in our air is not something that [is welcome in] Harrington,” Bivans said.
Bivans added he believes the public is of the same opinion.
Public officials will continue to weigh the pros and cons of marijuana sales and involve the public in the process, Bivans said. But he saw this as a decision concerning residents’ quality of life.
Barlow said he’s sure folks will be able to travel to purchase retail marijuana if they choose to do so.
Harrington residents looking for dispensaries selling recreational marijuana will likely travel north to Dover, the nearest city to allow recreational marijuana sales and production.
State lawmakers are considering efforts to tackle county-wide zoning restrictions that have essentially banned marijuana retail throughout Sussex County.
