By a 4-1 vote, the Bellefontaine City Council Tuesday evening, March 11, approved an ordinance which will ban adult-use, recreational marijuana dispensaries in the city.
The council had already placed a moratorium on the sales of medical marijuana last year, but the ordinance that passed Tuesday bans all dispensaries, and no marijuana outlets will be allowed in the city, be they medical or retail recreational stores.
Council members Deb Baker, Nick Davis, Jordan Reser and Kyle Springs all voted in favor of the ban, with Mackenzie Fitzpatrick casting lone no vote on the measure. Council members John Aler and Jenna James were excused from the meeting, leaving the five who were present to make the final decision.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, six people spoke Tuesday evening with all six favoring a “no” vote on the measure. Participants included former Bellefontaine Mayor Adam Brannon, who said that given the fact that a majority of both Ohio and Bellefontaine residents approved the legalization of adult-use, recreational marijuana in the November 2023 election, passage of the ban by the city was “lacking foresight.”
Another resident gave an emotional speech bemoaning the fact that as a medical marijuana card holder he must travel out-of-town or even out-of-state to obtain his legally prescribed medications, while others pointed to the loss of tax revenues that will be lost as a result of the ban.
But in the end, once the ordinance was read prior to the final vote, there was no discussion by the council and the ordinance passed without further comment.
In other matters, members approved by a 5-0 vote a one-reading resolution which announces that the city will be able and willing to provide police, fire, and other services to a 46.376-acre parcel in Lake Township adjacent to the city on its northwest border, a parcel that Bellefontaine intends to annex into the corporation limits.
As prescribed by Ohio law, the resolution is one of the several steps that must be taken by the city prior to the annexation of land and the resolution will now be forwarded to the Logan County Commission declaring the city’s intention to annex the parcel.
The council also passed, on the second readings and by 5-0 votes, the permanent appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures for the city for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2025, and approved the rezoning of the building located at 300 N. Park St. from R-2, One- and Two-Family Residence District to R-3, Multi-Family Residence District.
Both of these measures will be up for a third reading and final vote at the next council meeting.
Members were notified that 41 applications for single-family home building permits have been received by the City Engineer’s office through the end of February with more expected to come, far outstripping the total of 37 single-family home permit applications that were received for the entirety of 2024.
The council is scheduled to meet again in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25.