Tucson Marijuana Dispensaries Have New Town Codes to Learn Thanks to Marana Council

There’s no doubt that medical marijuana dispensaries are quite new. This is the reason townships, cities, and states are still figuring things out. The Town of Marana authorized two medical marijuana dispensaries in their county and no more than that.

The problem is the town didn’t address the rights of the people who own land where the dispensaries are located. The town council decided this needed to change, which is the reason they held a public hearing on October 15, which fell on a Tuesday.

The council decided that landowners deserved some clarification. This is something the town had to come to terms with after one of the property owners came to the council with a complaint.

Nature Med that is located at 5390 W. Ina Road and Botanica at 6205 N. Travel Center Drive are two dispensaries that were allowed to operate in this town. People of Marana who frequent these establishments have learned to love them. They sell things like organic cannabis, fun edibles, along with some home-grown products. They also have topicals for those who prefer those as well as tinctures.

The language that needed to be modified dealt with the Conditional Use Permit. Normally, these permits are written up to ensure that zoning exceptions are given to property owners. What this does is give these types of owners land-related freedoms that might not be available to other property owners. Well, the council reviewed the code and agreed. It seemed like the permit offered these types of rights to the operator of the dispensaries rather than the landowner.

When the council saw the issue, two different solutions were offered. One of those solutions was to simply modify the code to ensure that landowners got the CUP rights. The other solution was to give the dispensaries expanded permit rights that allowed them to relocate within the town.

It didn’t take long for the members of the council to approve changes to the code. On October 15, things changed for landowners. The code now allows owners to sell or lease their property to other dispensaries should the current one leave for some reason. The owner won’t need to get a new permit to make this change as long as the property came with a CUP.

The people in the council wanted to keep the limits it had put in place for dispensaries. Another one cannot open unless the population in this town increases.

The code states that a new will be allowed for every new 50,000 residents, which could only be tallied by the census. At the moment, there are only 34,961 people in this town according to the 2010 census.