Cheney commission recommends Marijuana Overlay Zone

The Cheney Planning Commission is unanimously recommending adoption of an ordinance creating Marijuana Overlay Zone in the northeast portion of the city. The recommendation, made after a public hearing at the commission’s March 9 meeting, will restrict the location of any marijuana outlet to the zone that encompasses all of the Farmers and Merchants Center at the southeast corner of First Street and Cheney-Spokane Road.

The commission conducted a workshop on the ordinance at its Feb. 9 meeting. City planner Brett Lucas said no changes had been made since then except for legal formatting, and that no public comment had been received.

The need for the zone’s creation arose after the city received an application from 3 Green Thumbs to open a marijuana dispensary in the F and M Center. The city denied the application originally, contending the dispensary was located within 1,000 feet of a game arcade at Cheney Lanes/Rosa’s Pizza.

State and city requirements established to regulate recreational marijuana include prohibiting outlets from locating within 1,000 feet of sensitive use areas such as daycare centers, bus stops, schools, parks and game arcades. The owners of 3 Green Thumbs challenged Cheney’s application denial, and Spokane County Hearing Examiner Brian T. McGinn upheld the challenge, ruling Cheney Lanes/Rosa’s Pizza did not was not a game arcade.

Commissioner Curt Critchlow noted that a former daycare center had also been previously located within the 1,000-foot buffer on the northeast corner of the intersection, questioning whether the lack of another sensitive use might allow marijuana outlets to expand outside the zone.

“The idea is marijuana outlets can only be in that zone,” Public Works Director Todd Ableman said. “They can’t go outside the boundary.”

“This would supercede that 1,000-foot boundary in this geographic area,” Lucas added.

The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council, which is scheduled to hold another public hearing on the ordinance at it’s March 24 meeting.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the commission voted unanimously to change the starting time of its regular meeting on the second Monday of the month in order to accomodate work schedules. Meetings will now begin at 6 p.m. rather than 5:30 p.m., beginning with the April 13 meeting.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].