Akron.com

Council bans marijuana dispensaries in city



Following a public hearing Sept. 5, Fairlawn City Council voted unanimously to “prohibit the cultivation, processing and retail dispensing of marijuana” in the city.
Previously, Fairlawn had imposed a temporary moratorium on zoning certificates “that would enable the cultivation, processing or retail sale of medical marijuana.”
Mayor William Roth said a total ban protects Fairlawn against any possible changes to the state’s medical marijuana regulations.
“The state’s statute right now on the potential distribution is very strict and very limited, but we all know that the state can always amend their ordinances and weaken or loosen the safeguard they have in it,” he said. “I think this protects us not only from the current statutes, but also any potential future ones that may be enacted … And, at the end of the day, I think it’s better for the residents of Fairlawn to not have such a facility in our community.”
Fairlawn Law Director Bryan Nace said he believes a total of three marijuana dispensaries will be allowed in Summit County.
“They’re limiting it all around the state, so there won’t be that many dispensaries around the state — at least to begin with,” he said. “But the statute the state passed allows us to ban it entirely, and that’s what this legislation does.”
Christopher Randles, commissioner of Fairlawn’s Zoning, Housing and Residential Building Department, said the city’s Planning Commission also was unanimously in favor of a ban.
Also during the meeting, an ordinance to submit a proposed charter change regarding compensation for members  of Fairlawn City Council was approved by a 5-2 vote.
“This doesn’t change the compensation for Council, it only addresses when that can be voted on,” Nace said. “As it is now, the charter says that if Council would vote in a raise for themselves, it could not go into effect for over four years. So, there’s no change in compensation with this, it’s just the timing of how it’s done. If a raise was enacted under the current language, it wouldn’t go into effect until January of 2022. But under the language being proposed, a raise would go into effect the following year after it was approved.”
Kathleen Baum (Ward 6), Philip Brillhart (Ward 4), Barbara Potts (Ward 2), Joe Simonetti (Ward 5) and Sharnsky (at large) voted in favor of the ordinance, and Rick Herbert (Ward 1) and Todd Stock (Ward 3) voted against it.
“I’m not really opposed to the City Council getting an appropriate compensation increase … but that is not what this ordinance is proposing,” said Herbert, who did not file for re-election for his Ward 1 Council seat. “This would allow City Council members to give themselves additional compensation and see that increase within their current term, and that, in some cases, would be less than a year. Also, the Ohio state ethics committee supports our current city charter the way it is written, with a four-year effective waiting period. … I see no reason to send this charter amendment to the voters, and I would ask the Council … to start working on an appropriate compensation package that would start under our current city charter.”
According to Sharnsky, Council members currently make $100 per week, a figure that has remained constant since the 1970s.
“If this passes, it would give us the authority to debate [increases] and give us some flexibility,” he said. “We’ve avoided this issue for a long time because nobody on Council does it for the money. We get no health benefits. But, really, we probably should have talked about this four or five years ago. All of the city employees get regular raises, but Council compensation hasn’t been adjusted since the ’70s.”
The proposed charter change will next head to the Summit County Board of Elections, Nace said.
“If everything goes through as planned, it will go on the ballot in November, and voters will be able to vote on the item at that time,” he stated.
In other business, Randles said the city’s Community Improvement Corp. has entered into a purchase agreement for 2440 Sand Run Parkway.
“That is a vacant single-family house,” he said. “We hope to close on it sometime this month. … Shortly thereafter, we would like to have demolition crews out there to raze the structure.”
Randles said he would not disclose the purchase price for the property until “the deal is completed.”
The next Fairlawn City Council meeting is set for Sept. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at Fairlawn City Hall, located at 3487 S. Smith Road.