WEST CARROLLTON — City leaders seem to be warming up to the possibility of letting companies sell marijuana.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, West Carrollton put a moratorium on these businesses after adult-use marijuana sales became legal in Ohio in 2023.
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City council members believe these companies could bring new revenue to the city.
The law director said the city will get a portion of the excise tax from dispensaries that open for business there.
Only two residents showed up to the city council work session Tuesday, which focused on proposed code regulations for adult-use marijuana dispensaries.
They didn’t have much to say about the moratorium, but city leaders did.
“My thing is, I welcome it 100 percent because it’s going to bring in a lot of tax revenue and money back to the city,” West Carrollton Council member Mike Boyle said.
“I think it’s an opportunity, but I don’t want you to go and think suddenly there’ll be a dispensary the day after the code change,” West Carrollton Law Director Josh Lounsbury said.
The city enacted its first marijuana moratorium in December 2023.
The council voted to extend it for the next year.
Again, the council voted in favor of keeping the ban in February.
But on Tuesday night, the West Carrollton City Manager, Amber Holloway, asked that they delay discussion on lifting the ban until next month.
She wants to give Lounsbury more time to review the regulations and then come up with a plan to put in front of the planning commission.
“It’s a zoning code change, so that would have to go through the planning commission first, and then be approved by the city council,” Lounsbury said.
City council talked about Senate Bill 56, which Governor Mike DeWine passed last year.
It puts marijuana under the Division of Cannabis Control, only allowing a maximum of 400 dispensaries in the state. It also prohibits them from being near schools, playgrounds, and churches.
“As we upscale West Carrollton, and we bring in what we’re bringing in on the River District aspect, I don’t want something that’s going to stick out like a sore thumb,” Boyle said. “I don’t want the LED lights in the, you know, the windows and the flags out front, that is not the image I want in West Carrollton.”
The city manager said next month they will have a code change drafted, but there are still several steps they must take before residents could see a dispensary in West Carrollton.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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