Franklin City Council approved Monday an emergency ordinance for a 61-day moratorium on medical marijuana cultivators, processors or retail dispensaries in the city.
The emergency moratorium was designed to cover the gap in the time it will take to enact an ordinance for a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana operations, which was also introduced Monday.
A public hearing on the proposed one-year ordinance is scheduled for council’s July 2 meeting and if adopted, would go into effect on Aug. 1.
The city had previously had a moratorium that had already expired.
Franklin joins many area communities which have enacted temporary or permanent bans on medical marijuana businesses. Last week, Trenton approved a ban on such businesses joining many other communities in Butler County. Other cities with bans include Middletown, Hamilton, Fairfield, West Chester Twp., Liberty Twp., Ross Twp. and Liberty Twp. Another Warren County community, Carlisle, also has a ban in place.
Law Director Lynette Dinkler said while the law is required to be fully operational by September, the city does not know how they will be established or governed. She said the new law allows the city to adopt regulations to prohibit such businesses this will allow time for the state to come up with guidelines to assist the city to address zoning and other issues before city officials review and make recommendations to council.
Oxford has not banned medical marijuana businesses while Seven Mile and Monroe were recently selected for a medical marijuana dispensary licenses. In addition, Monroe was also approved for a small medical marijuana cultivation facility.
Despite being selected for a medical marijuana dispensary, Seven Mile on Monday issued an emergency, temporary ban, preventing the new business from locating there.
