Medical marijuana cultivation centers ‘a concern’ for zoning, Fort Smith Development Services Director says

Fort Smith Development Services Director Wally Bailey has concerns over how zoning will be handled for the state’s in-development medical marijuana industry, he said during Monday’s (Jan. 23) meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee.

Under the terms of Section 14 of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment passed by voters Nov. 8, local zoning regulations cannot be handled any different than they would be for a licensed retail pharmacy. The amendment draws no distinction between cultivation centers (where the plants are grown) and dispensaries (where they are sold).

That means it is “possible,” Bailey told Talk Business & Politics, that a cultivation facility could operate next door to a Walmart or Walgreen’s pharmacy. The state is limiting the number of both facility types with anywhere from four to eight cultivation facilities and 20-40 dispensaries planned.

Fort Smith being the state’s second largest city, it is a likely candidate for each, and Bailey said there has already been interest expressed to his office from “six or so individuals” wanting to begin the zoning process.

“We probably had maybe a half dozen, plus or minus, people showing interest in putting either a dispensary or cultivation facility or both,” Bailey said. “Many of the ones I’ve talked to and some of the ones others have talked to in the department have just asked about where to get the applications to start the zoning process, and we just have to wait and see what the rules are going to be. We just don’t know yet, and we’ll be closely monitoring it to do what we need to do to be in line with the state once it is developed.”

He continued: “My concern is (the amendment) doesn’t distinguish or separate the retail portion from the cultivation portion. That’s an issue that still needs to be resolved at the state level, but it’s an issue I’ve identified that should be further studied before this becomes final.”

Bailey said the two medical marijuana facility types, “as things stand,” would be zoned as Commercial 2 (C-2) through Commercial 6 (C-6). “Basically all of our commercial zones,” he added.

Also at Monday’s meeting, Bailey updated commissioners on how the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) has created “slow but steady” design enhancements in line with the city’s comprehensive plan. Bailey showed a number of area businesses, from liquor stores to churches, built post-UDO that have followed uniform design standards to “improve the existing landscape.”

Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas housingdeveloper Rocky Walker observed there are “pros and cons” to the UDO for developers.

“The positive of the UDO is that things look so much better, but the negative is there is investment involved and some businesses just can’t afford to do it,” Walker said.

Bailey agreed, telling Talk Business & Politics this is why the city has been somewhat purposeful in the pacing of the UDO – to assist existing businesses that may not have the funds to keep up with where current development is heading.

“Any change or regulation that has to do with appearance or landscaping is expensive, and we all recognize that. But it was the mission we were given by citizens, to improve the appearance of the city,” Bailey said.

Under the city’s UDO, any changes can be made to existing businesses without bringing it up to the code “unless they’re adding more than 50% to the building,” Bailey said.

“That’s a 50% addition, not a 50% total improvement, and that’s trying to be considerate where things are cost prohibitive.”

Finally, representatives from the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (FCRA) updated the committee on where things stand at Chaffee Crossing, noting the combination of public and private investments in the area have reached $1.3 billion since 2000 and that jobs added will be at around 3,500 by the end of 2017. Recent developments include a combined total of more than $100 million in capital investments and approximately 1,300 job additions from ArcBest and Mars Petcare alone.