Tallahassee is set to Approve New Cannabis Zoning

Tallahassee, Florida is finally ready to approve new medical cannabis dispensary zoning rules. The city-wide moratorium on dispensaries ends this month (after being started in January), and in preparation for that, Leon County Commissioners have approved zoning requirements, as of Tuesday, May 9.

The new zoning regulations for the county have stated that medical cannabis dispensaries are allowed in certain commercial areas as long as they are 1,000 feet or more from schools, churches and other dispensaries—just like the zoning for liquor stores. The county would allow such facilities in the same places where drug stores and other retail commercial businesses are allowed.

County staff said they’ve received inquiries for medical marijuana dispensaries, but so far none have been in the unincorporated areas. The county will accept applications for dispensaries, but any applications that don’t comply will be rejected.

Apparently, the city of Tallahassee will be adopting similar rules, according to Tallahassee’s Development Review Committee Chairman Keith Burnsed. Tallahassee has three approved dispensaries currently: Trulieve, Surterra and Knox Medical.

“And then we would also, because we don’t have it as a use in our code, we would establish that the use would be allowed in any zoning district in which retail pharmacies or retail commercial are permitted,” Burnsed stated.

Tallahassee held the first public hearing on the medical cannabis dispensary zoning options last month and will have another public hearing on the topic on May 24. Meanwhile, many companies and investors are waiting with eyes wide open, checkbooks at the ready, as the regulations unfold. Huxley Medical Group is planning on converting an empty jet engine parts factory into a cannabis cultivation center in Tallahassee to create a craft cannabis product line that will be grown in an environmentally-friendly, pesticide-free cultivation site. They’ve already lined up a biophysicist and medical director and plan to hire 20 workers with “living-wage salaries” averaging about $50,000 a year. Huxley doesn’t have a state medical cannabis license yet, but anticipate the legislation to open up the door for them. By April of next year, they hope to be distributing their first batch of products.

About 60 other cities in Florida have adopted ordinances or moratoriums governing medical cannabis facilities and treatment centers so far. As we reported earlier this week, the Department of Health will be trying to figure out how best to regulate the number of dispensaries allowed in each city in the state by the July deadline. As such, many cities like Tallahassee will be scrambling to secure their own ordinances in place first, or wait and simply follow suit with the state. Currently, patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, chronic seizures and chronic muscle spasms are able to receive low level THC and non-smokable cannabis to relieve their symptoms.