Columbus City Council is trying to figure out what condition its condition is in when it comes to medical marijuana grow facilities and dispensaries.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage, Building Administrator Ken Wiegel and Columbus Light and Water General Manager Angela Verdell, as well as the mayor and council members, discussed the benefits to the city, as well as possible zoning requirements, should grow houses or dispensaries choose to locate in the city.
Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill legalizing medical marijuana earlier this year. Medical marijuana had been overwhelmingly approved by ballot initiative in 2020, but was then overturned on a technicality by the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Cities and counties are assumed to opt in to the program, but may opt out by May 3. If a community chooses to opt out, a petition with 20 percent of the population or 1,500 signatures — whichever is smaller — will trigger an election to settle the issue within 60 days. Thus far the only local community to opt out is Caledonia.
Turnage made a presentation to the council — Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart, Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene, Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco were present — that explained the limitations on dispensaries and grow houses.
Cultivation and processing are limited to agricultural and industrial zones, and dispensaries, research facilities and testing facilities must be in commercial zones, Turnage said.
“One of the key things to it is that no facility of any type can be within 1,000 feet of a school, church or child care facility,” Turnage said. “If somebody wants to locate within 1,000 feet of one of those, they can go to that facility and get a waiver. But it can only be waived down to 500 feet.”
Turnage said he had talked to Wiegel about putting together a map laying out every school, church and child care facility. Turnage said that he mentioned the possibility to Chris Watson, who is handling the city’s redistricting and census data already, and Watson said it would be easy to do.
“(Medical marijuana facilities) are not allowed in areas zoned R1, either,” Turnage said. “Tupelo did a map like that, and there wasn’t a whole lot of available space. If we don’t opt out, it would be nice to have a map for the public and the (Golden Triangle Development LINK) and real estate agents to go by.”
Turnage also cited figures prepared by the LINK projecting fees in lieu for a grow house facility. A $10 million grow house was projected to generate an average of $58,416 per year over 10 years.
“That may seem expensive, but my understanding is they are very expensive to set up and to (heat and cool,)” he said. “…We have lost a lot of industrial (power) load in the city, and maybe you do or don’t like medical marijuana, but you might like the revenue stream it could generate.”
That power requirement would be very advantageous to CLW, Verdell said, due to the decline in high-wattage customers.
“Just from one year to the next we lost 15 businesses,” she said. “The number of residences has been fairly consistent, but we are losing businesses. We’re right in the middle of trying to figure out a strategy to redeem those numbers in some kind of way…If it’s legal we are bound to provide services to legal entities, and this is a legal business.”
Verdell said she couldn’t put a number on usage per facility without knowing how large it is.
“We would welcome any power usage in the city,” she said.
TVA is apparently not going to interfere with power sales to medical marijuana-related businesses, despite mixed messages in the past.
“You can say a thing without really saying a thing,” Verdell said. “TVA has pretty much said they will not regulate their customers’ customers.”
“(Medical marijuana) is happening nationwide, and there’s no federal enforcement effort that I have seen when a state legalizes it,” Turnage added.
Wiegel said the city did not have any specific zoning regulations for this industry.
“The city currently does not have any zoning designation for growing or dispensing,” he said. “It would seem logical to me as the building administrator that these uses would be allowed in C3 commercial and industrial zoning districts.”
He added that some properties in those zones may not be “appropriate for growing or dispensing” because they were surrounded by residential areas. He recommended requests be sent to the planning commission for approval on a case-by-case basis.
“That way the responsibility is placed on the developer to prove they meet all zoning requirements,” he said.
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard said he was in favor of growing operations or dispensaries coming to Columbus.
“I have a huge factory location in Ward 4 that needs to be redeveloped,” Beard said. “As well as where JTB was, and the old Renasant Bank (on Main Street) would be a perfect location because it already has a vault.”
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene said he hoped the city would make a formal decision at its meeting Tuesday.
“Then we would know where we stand as a city,” Greene said. “People are planning, and they need to be able to plan ahead.”
Gaskin encouraged people to think about the possible benefits.
“I’m appreciative of all the concerns that citizens have with something like this,” he said. “But we also have to weigh that in with the positives that it could potentially bring as well.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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