Council Approves Zoning for Sale of Marijuana in Stow
Zoning law would restrict city to 1 dispensary
After considerable discussion and deliberation about whether to allow marijuana businesses to locate in Stow, City Council approved an ordinance that would allow the sale of marijuana but only one facility in an industrial area in Ward 4, encompassing parts of Seasons Rd., Allen Rd. and McCauley Rd.
After holding a public hearing at 5 pm on Jan. 23, at which four residents spoke (two in favor of marijuana sales in the city and two against), City Council discussed the zoning legislation and an alternative proposal by Councilman At-Large Kyle Herman, that would have expanded marijuana sales to a few commercial areas in the city, including retail plazas near the intersection of Graham Rd. and Hudson Drive, along Kent Rd. near Marsh Rd., and along part of Commerce Drive.
Council President Cyle Feldman opened the public hearing by sharing the vote totals in Stow for Issue 2 in November 2023. Of the 23 precincts in Stow, all but two voted in favor of recreational marijuana sales in Ohio. In Precinct 1F, Issue 2 failed by 7 votes, 349 to 342. In Precinct 2, voters rejected Issue 2 by 41 votes, 428 to 387. Overall, the city passed Issue 2 with 57% voting in favor, 8,277 to 6,243.
Ward 2 Kelly Coffey opened the council meeting discussion with her rationale for a vote against the legislation.
“I will not be supporting this,” she said. “Just because people voted yes on legalizing marijuana, I don’t think necessarily that means they want it near their homes or in their city…. Even with Map 1 I have safety concerns, the 1,000-ft. barrier to schools, that’s two-tenths of a mile or three football fields. And there are two schools in this area close to there. There’s Walsh and CVCA, both are in that area. I just don’t think that’s the best thing for this community.”
Councilman At-Large Jeremy McIntire said he would support the legislation.
“I don’t disagree that the voters, the voters didn’t vote specifically for this in their backyard, but what they did vote for at the same time that issue passed was members of this council, right, to craft policy and take the best interest or what they think is the best interests of this community and the taxpayers to craft policies and put things in place,” McIntire said.
"I looked at all these different maps. This is the recommendation that came from the Planning Commission. I think it’s a good start in terms of understanding. … I read letters from where people say that if this passes, Stow is no longer going to be a family-friendly community. I don’t think that’s the case,” McIntire said.
He suggested his fellow councilmembers should vote in favor of the proposed legislation because not doing so could eliminate the city’s ability to control the placement of marijuana businesses when the city’s 6-month moratorium on such businesses expires without there being specific zoning laws in place.
“This is the one chance we get, through zoning, to get it right,” he said. “Is this the best? No. But it’s a good start. … What we do if this passes tonight is open the opportunity for someone to bring a business to the city of Stow. I will be supporting this tonight.”
In asking council to consider his proposed alternative zoning map to open certain commercial areas to cannabis sales, Herman noted that more people in Stow voted in favor of Issue 2 than had voted for any council member that election.
“There were 57% of the residents in our city who voted to regulate cannabis like alcohol and that total was over 8,200, which was more than any member of council. The most that any member of council got was 6,300, so it’s kind of ironic that the idea of allowing for cannabis sales was more popular than any member of council,” he said.
“Out of respect to those voters who understand there is a stigma about cannabis that, unlike alcohol or tobacco, it has legitimate medicinal purposes, and those state regulations are already far more excessive than they are for alcohol, which is much more easily available in our city,” Herman said. “These are dispensaries and they are retail and belong in commercial areas and so just maintaining a residential barrier so it’s not adjacent to residential, but allowing it in some of those commercial areas would be a fair compromise.”
In seeking what he called a common-sense resolution, Feldman asked Planning Director Zack Cowan how many cannabis businesses would be allowed under each proposal.
Under the ordinance that ultimately passed, only one business could be located in the city. Under Herman’s proposal, there could have been a maximum of five or six, but only if those businesses had found locations in exactly the right spots in order to comply with a requirement in the ordinance that the facilities be one-mile apart. Cowan suggested that council could include a limit for the number of total facilities allowed as part of Herman’s proposal.
Feldman proposed an additional restriction to Herman’s proposal that would have permitted no more than two marijuana facilities in the city.
Council voted 3-4 against Herman’s amendment with the limitation of only two marijuana facilities in the city; Herman, Feldman and Ward 1 Councilman Matt Riehl voted in favor of Herman’s amendment. McIntire, Coffey, Ward 3 Councilman John Baranek and Ward 4 Councilman Mario Fiocca voted against the amendment.
The original proposal, which limits the city to one marijuana facility in Ward 4 was passed on a 6-1 vote, with Coffey being the sole dissent.
A separate ordinance to repeal a prior ban on medicinal marijuana sales in the city also passed on a 6-1 vote with Coffey voting against.
In prior council meetings, being able to capture local tax dollars from the sale of marijuana was one of the reasons that council members gave for moving forward with the zoning legislation. However, just days after Stow passed the marijuana legislation, a bill was introduced in the Ohio Senate that would make a number of changes to the state law, among them redirecting all tax dollars from marijuana sales back to the state.
Other Council News
City Council approved the hiring of Eva Hairston as Tax Auditor II. Her hiring completed the city’s goal of fully staffing its tax department with two tax auditors, a supervisor, administrator and two part-time employees, said Finance Director Kelly Toppin. Last year, the city briefly considered a proposal to use the Regional Income Tax Authority (RITA) to manage the city's taxes because the tax department had too few employees to keep up with the workload. Overwhelming public feedback against RITA convinced the city to invest in a fully staffed tax department.
Toppin announced that the city had been awarded the “Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting” by the Government Finance Officers Association for the 23rd year in a row.
Council approved legislation for a contract with an outside vendor to assist with the repair of waterline breaks. Although most work is performed by city employees, Deputy Director of Public Service Don Brooker said the contract would enable the city to bring in the contractor when needed. He noted that in the years since the city purchased the water system from Summit County, the city has invested in the maintenance and update of many water lines, which has significantly reduced the number of waterline breaks on an annual basis from “hundreds” to approximately 30-40 per year.
Parks & Recreation Director Linda Nahrstedt said the department will continue adding new programming for the new Community & Senior Center and that recent activities already show the success of having this larger facility. An early an afternoon “New Year’s” event on Jan. 14 drew more than 140 seniors, while Bingo had more than 70 attendees. The city's prior Senior Center on Darrow Road had a maximum capacity of 45 people.
In its own charter, the city is required every five years to assemble a Charter Review Commission of seven residents, who will review and make recommendations on changes to the city’s charter. Any recommendations ultimately would need to be voted on in the next election. While nominating the following residents for the 2025 Charter Review Commission, Mayor John Pribonic noted that the city had advertised the need for commission volunteers for two months but had only received seven applications, all of whom he nominated and were then approved by council:
Dennis Mariola
Rick Charles
Dennis Campbell
Nancy Binzel
Janice Arch
Christy Staats
Amy Jones
Council approved the appointment of Janice Hyne to the Arts Commission.
