Sussex introduces amendments to marijuana retail store rules
Sussex Council Council introduced an amendment to a law governing locations for marijuana retail stores at its Sept. 23 meeting, but left some key issues to be determined during the approval process.
The proposal would amend Ordinance 3016, which the county enacted May 14, 2024. The General Assembly passed Senate Bill 75 to limit those rules because the ordinance was seen as thwarting the state’s intent to allow marijuana sales.
In August, Gov. Matt Meyer vetoed the legislation, stating the decision was best left to the county. Meyer reached an agreement with Sussex County in which the county would consider easing its restrictions.
The 2024 county rules set a minimum 3-mile separation between marijuana retail stores, and between each shop and municipal boundaries, schools, churches and substance abuse treatment facilities.
The county ordinance included a distance between municipal boundaries and shops in deference to the wishes of municipalities that had banned such businesses, so that they could not be set up just outside.
The proposed amendments reduce that separation to a half-mile, while distances between shops and schools, churches and substance abuse treatment facilities is to be determined during the approval process.
The county planning & zoning commission and county council will hold separate public hearings, the dates of which have not yet been set.
The current law also requires a conditional-use approval for marijuana retail stores in C-3 commercial districts and does not allow them in other commercial districts.
The amendment would make such shops legal in C-2 and C-3 districts as a permitted use, not requiring approval of a conditional use.
The 3-mile distances included in the original county law were based on the distance the state requires between businesses that sell liquor, county officials said at a Sept. 9 meeting.
State law did not set distances between such businesses and municipal boundaries, schools, churches and substance abuse treatment facilities.
County officials said they applied the 3-mile separation to the other locations to be consistent, but critics noted it left little, if any, areas in the county for marijuana retail businesses.
County officials have expressed a need to act quickly on potential changes after hearing the General Assembly might call a special session to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 75.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
