LAWTON – Lawton has revised its zoning requirements for medical marijuana operations, which will allow low-grade processing in most commercial zones and limit more intensive processing to industrial areas.
The Lawton City Council recently approved an ordinance which updates the city’s system for defining medical marijuana operations. The ordinance also establishes zones where businesses in each tier may be located.
When Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018, Lawton updated its city code to address the issue, Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski said at the council’s Sept. 28 meeting. He said at the time, state law required cities to treat dispensaries as if they were pharmacies or other healthcare-related businesses.
“Our code actually is pretty liberal,” Rogalski said. “Wherever you could have a pharmacy, more or less, you could have a dispensary. So, there’s quite a few dispensaries that are allowed in C-1 (local commercial districts) out in the community.”
He said the city has received several requests to rezone a potential site for medical marijuana processing operations from a local commercial district to a general commercial district. Local commercial districts are designed for retail and service businesses and can accommodate dispensaries if they are located on a major street.
A dispensary that is not on a major street is considered a use permitted on review, which means the property owner must obtain permission from the council before moving forward with his or her plans.
General commercial districts, also known as C-5, are intended for personal and business services as well as general retail. Medical marijuana research operations are allowed in general commercial zones.
The city has set up a four-tier system for medical marijuana processing operations, as follows:
Tier 1 is for processors that use mechanical procedures to produce prerolled cigarettes. Those processors may also use medical marijuana concentrates or plant pieces, produced in compliance with state law, as additives to products that do not require cooking or baking. This tier does not include extraction processes of any kind.
Tier 2 includes the processing activities described in the first tier, with the addition of medical marijuana concentrates used as additives to products through cooking or baking. This tier does not include any type of extraction process.
Tier 3 includes the activities allowed in the first and second tiers, with the addition of extraction procedures that use only nonflammable substances.
Tier 4 is for operations that use any type of processing consisting of all extraction procedures, including those that rely on flammable chemicals.
Under the new system, Tier 1 processors are allowed as of right in general agricultural zones as well as all commercial and industrial districts. Tier 2 processors are permitted on review in general agricultural districts; all commercial zones except general commercial districts, where they are allowed as of right; and all industrial zones.
Tier 3 processors are permitted upon review only in general agricultural and general commercial zones, but they are allowed as of right in industrial districts. Tier 4 processors are limited to three of the four types of industrial zones.
The city allows processors and grow operations in a general commercial district, as uses permitted on review, if they are associated with a dispensary at the same location, Rogalski said.
“We noticed there were a lot of these dispensaries that were wanting to get processing licenses and, therefore, to rezone so they could process,” he said. “As we learned more about it, we found out some of the things they were doing that were considered processing by the OMMA (Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority) really are not very intense tasks.”
Rogalski said the new system adds more rights for lower-grade processors without taking anything away from higher-intensity operations.
“It allows them to do stuff that most of us wouldn’t think of as processing,” he said.