City Zone Change 959 – Text Amendment – An amendment to Section 27-304 to clarify that land uses contrary to local, state or federal law will not be allowed by right or by conditional approval. This zoning code amendment is a companion amendment to BMCC Section 7-1700 regarding Medical Marijuana Storefronts. Presented by Nicole Cromwell, Zoning Coordinator

Planning staff recommends approval of the text amendment as proposed.

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The Assistant City Attorney, Gina Dahl, is preparing an amendment to Section 7-1700 concerning Medical Marijuana Storefronts. The City Council met this spring at a Work Session (March 6) to discuss the impact of the recent court decisions and Citizen's Initiative 182 approval as well as other emerging issues regarding Medical Marijuana in Montana. The City Council asked staff to move forward with amendments to not allow Medical Marijuana Providers/Dispensaries/or Storefronts of any kind within the City Limits.

In 2010, the City Council adopted an interim Zoning ordinance prohibiting the location of any further medical marijuana storefronts in the City Limits. The interim ordinance expired and was not replaced with a permanent ordinance due to court challenges and state legislative activity regarding provisions in the Medical Marijuana Act.

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Court challenges to the restrictions in the MMA as amended by Senate Bill 423 (2011) were successful. The court decision, in addition to CI 182 passage in November, required the City to consider updates to its adopted codes. Several options were proposed to the City Council in March 2017. The City Council direction in this matter was to prohibit dispensaries and sales of medical marijuana by providers within the City Limits. The proposed zoning regulation amendment will help to clarify that medical marijuana dispensaries and providers are not an allowed use or conditional use within the City Limits. The amendment is modeled after similar language in other Montana city codes that also prohibit dispensaries and providers.

Planning staff recommends approval of the text amendment.