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CITY VOTES FOR PAUSE ON POT DISPENSARIES

Orlando commissioners voted to approve a temporary moratorium on marijuana dispensaries in the city Monday, months before Florida voters will again weigh in on medical uses for the drug.

The City Council vote comes after three would-be sellers of either medicinal marijuana or the low-THC oil known as Charlotte's Web have recently expressed interest in Orlando storefronts where current zoning would allow them.

"We're not trying to keep them from doing business in the city," District 3 City Commissioner Robert Stuart said Monday.  "We're looking at: What are the boundaries in which they would do that?"

If it passes a second vote July 25, the moratorium would last through Dec.  31.

In the meantime, city planning officials would study the potential impacts of marijuana distributors, including whether they should be kept at arm's length from neighborhoods, churches or schools.

"Our zoning code, of course, was written well before anyone imagined marijuana dispensaries being legal," Assistant City Attorney Kyle Shephard said.

After the Legislature in 2014 legalized a non-euphoric version of marijuana used to treat children with seizures, the city determined that, under its current rules, dispensaries would fit into the same category as a drugstore, like Walgreens or CVS.

In November, Florida voters will consider a referendum to decide whether to legalize pot for treatment of many other maladies.

"You're dealing with a industry in which the state of Florida has said, you have to treat them like a drugstore and ...  the federal government has said, it's illegal," Stuart said.  "So we're all trying to navigate these waters."

So far, the city has issued preliminary approval for three sites in District 3: one on Orange Avenue near Winter Park; another on Orange Blossom Trail near Lake Fairview; and a third on Edgewater Drive in College Park.

Several South Florida cities and counties have adopted similar moratoriums, including North Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Others, including Oakland Park, Weston, Miramar and Plantation, already have specific zoning laws in place.

Existing state laws strictly limit who can grow and sell legal forms of the drug.

The 2014 law allowed up to five regional nurseries to be authorized by the Florida Department of Health.

When the Legislature expanded the law this year, it opened the door for up to three more.  Currently, the state has six in total.

The updated law's language established that cities can limit the number and location of distribution facilities within their borders, as long as they do not conflict with state law.

That's what Orlando hopes to do, city officials said.

If the moratorium is approved later this month, planning officials would be required to present their findings to the City Council no later than Dec.  1.

"We need to study this, before we move any further with it," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.