Following approval of 3rd dispensary, Ross considering setting minimum distance between medical marijuana facilities

Following approval of a third medical marijuana dispensary along McKnight Road, Ross commissioners are considering a regulation that would prohibit them from being adjacent to each other.

As proposed in an ordinance introduced at the commissioners’ June 2 meeting, medical marijuana dispensaries would have to be at least 1,000 feet apart. The same minimum distance also would apply to medical marijuana growing and processing facilities.

A public hearing on the ordinance is expected to be held at the commissioners’ voting meeting July 21, where they could also vote on approving it.

Two medical marijuana dispensaries, Zen Leaf at 4778 McKnight Road and Organic Remedies at 7402 McKnight Road, are located along the artery’s northbound stretch, and farther apart than 1,000 feet, township Commissioner Dan DeMarco said.

In May, commissioners approved a third dispensary on southbound McKnight Road proposed by David DeCastro, a former player for the Pittsburgh Steelers and an investor in Whole Plants, a marijuana company. It would be located at 7711 McKnight Road.

Ross previously had approved DeCastro opening a dispensary at 7725 McKnight Road. However, 7711 McKnight became available after that approval, and DeCastro felt it would be a better location, including for reasons of building renovations and parking.

Since 2017, Ross has limited medical marijuana facilities to its C-1 commercial and I-1 industrial zoning districts, said Dominic Rickert, director of community development. Within those areas, they are not allowed to be within 1,000 feet of the property line of a school, day care center, park or church.

In 2018, the township added that they cannot be located within 300 feet of any residential district, Rickert said.

Setting a minimum distance between medical marijuana facilities was an idea that came from the commissioners, Commissioner Dan DeMarco said.

“Right now, we have two on McKnight Road,” he said. “We felt that maybe we need to perhaps slow down the proliferation of the dispensaries.”

Ross can’t prohibit dispensaries, but it can regulate them like other businesses, DeMarco said.

“We’re not excluding them. We’re just simply putting some reasonable regulations on location based on distance between them,” he said.

DeMarco could not say why 1,000 feet was chosen as the distance.

“This is relatively new territory on these things,” he said.

While saying she personally would not see why dispensaries would want to locate close to each other, Meredith Buettner, executive director of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, said her organization would not have a position on Ross’ proposed regulation.

Cannabis companies are used to dealing with rules about how close they locate to places such as schools and day cares, she said.

“The rights of municipalities to have the ability to regulate businesses in terms of place and manner is generally something we have to deal with across the country,” Buettner said. “It’s really not surprising. I think that any time you’re creating safe, regulated access to cannabis, it’s a good thing.”

If the ordinance is approved as introduced specifying medical marijuana, DeMarco said Ross would have to revisit it if recreational use is ever approved.

Since medical marijuana dispensaries began being proposed, DeMarco said he has not seen any opposition to them from residents.

“My gut tells me a lot of people have just accepted that the state legalized medical marijuana, and it’s, like, legalized,” he said. “We do not experience any problems with these dispensaries in terms of criminal activity. These dispensaries are built like Fort Knox. They have a lot of security.”