Pubdate: Sun, 18 May 2014
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Page: A1
Copyright: 2014 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Authors: David Damron and Erica Rodriguez

CITIES LOOK HIGH, LOW FOR PLACES TO SELL POT

Cities and counties throughout Central Florida are studying their
zoning laws as they prepare for a new growth industry: the cultivation
and sale of marijuana.

Across the area, local planners are looking at where best to grow and
sell pot in their communities should voters approve Amendment 2 on the
November ballot.

Some officials have little doubt about what's on the
horizon.

"We think it's going to pass," said Maitland Mayor Howard
Schieferdecker. "And we want to get ahead of it."

In his city, officials are looking at an ordinance that could
essentially restrict marijuana-dispensary shops to an office park near
Interstate 4.

Mount Dora leaders, meanwhile, recently approved a new rule that would
ban medical-marijuana shops from much of the city, including its
cherished downtown merchant village.

Flagler Beach, Cocoa Beach and other cities and towns have taken up
similar rules, with Maitland poised to adopt its pot-shop restrictions
next month.

Lawmakers passed limited medical-marijuana legislation last month. And
a poll earlier this month showed voters strongly favor an expanded
version of that law: Amendment 2, which could fuel a push for growing
operations and dispensaries around Florida.

In the Quinnipiac University poll, 88 percent of registered Florida
voters supported use of medical marijuana by adults.

Maitland City Attorney Cliff Shepard said many cities worry that the
pot shops will resemble the so-called "pill mills" that sprouted and
attracted questionable customers amid Florida's prescriptiondrug
epidemic. And that's why he wants to act sooner than later.

"The experience with pain-management clinics, that's a fresh taste
left in the mouth of a lot of cities," Shepardsaid. "It's something
they don't want to repeat."

In Mount Dora, for instance, once the drug becomes legal, those
wishing to operate such a pot shop could do so only within parts of
the city zoned for high industrial use and would need a special permit.

A shabby stretch of land along U.S. Highway 441 in the city's
southeast that's now home to a Dollar General and rummage store
already has such zoning.

Under the new rule, drive throughs, alcohol and loitering would be
forbidden at medical-marijuana dispensaries. The shops must be more
than 2,500 feet from parks, day cares, schools and other pot shops.
The rule also would ban medical-marijuana farming in the city.

"Our biggest concern is what can tend to happen around dispensaries,
which is the loitering and any potential illegal activities," said
Mark Reggentin, the city's planning-and-zoning director.

"The worst thing that can happen is somebody can legally purchase the
product and illegally sell it."

Though Reggentin said he doesn't expect that to happen, the intent of
the new rule was to get ahead of state legislation making sure pot
shops have no question about what's allowed at their businesses. If
and when the drug becomes legal, Reggentin says, the city can always
go back and amend the rules.

Mount Dora council member Nick Girone, who supports the rule, said
residents want to keep the city the way it is and not become "some
kind of a drug haven."

"I know our intent was not to let this thing be a free-for-all with
head shops all over the place," Girone said.

Though not as far along in their planning as some other
municipalities, officials from Orange County and Orlando are preparing
for the possibility of Amendment 2's passage.

They recently attended a municipal-planning conference where a panel
discussed the various issues local governments could soon face.

Robert Capecchi, an official at the Marijuana Policy Project in
Washington, D.C., said that similar restrictions exist in other
states. Florida just appears to be "jumping the gun a little bit."

Capecchi, the group's deputy director of state policies, said the
restrictions are often aimed at keeping pot shops away from schools,
playgrounds and churches. That often ends up pushing pot businesses to
less-desirable locales, even though he said they "are no more
insidious than liquor stores."

Part of that push is the residue of historic efforts to demonize
marijuana, he said.

"There's been decades upon decades of 'Reefer Madness' that's been
beat into our heads," Capecchi said. "That tends to sink in."

City leaders in Tavares, meanwhile, will soon be considering their own
rule.

Councilwoman Lori Pfister, who raised the topic at a recent council
meeting, says she thinks legalized medicinal marijuana will open the
door for new businesses and sees the area around Tavares' Florida
Hospital Waterman campus as an ideal place for shops.

"I want people to make their medical-marijuana purchase locally," she
said. "I don't want them going to another city."

Orange County Commissioner Ted Edwards wants his board to act, noting
that other cities have opted not to wait. He's asked for a discussion
of potential local regulations to come up soon.

"It's not that the sky is falling," Edwards said. "But we should be
prepared."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D