Westminster Planning & Zoning Commission

CITY OF WESTMINSTER PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING SUMMARY October 8, 2015, at 7 PM City Hall, 1838 Emerald Hill Lane I. Call to Order Commissioners in attendance: Chair Peggy Bair, Commissioner Suzanne Albert (Common Council Member) Commissioner Nancy Palmer, Commissioner Lori Welsh Graham and Commissioner Kevin Beaver City Staff in attendance: Bill Mackey and Andrew Gray County Staff in attendance: Scott Graf II. Approval of Minutes Commissioner Albert moved approval of the minutes from the meeting of August 13, 2015. Commissioner Graham seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Graham moved approval of the minutes from the meeting of September 10, 2015. Commissioner Beaver seconded. The motion passed unanimously. III. Old Business None. IV. New Business 1. Carroll County Planning Liaison, Mr. Scott Graf Mr. Graf requested updates of City staff on pending Barron and Bollinger annexations.  Mr. Mackey responded to the Commission that there would be a policy document drafted to explain the annexation process (a memo was provided to Commissioners as follow up). Mr. Graf stated to the Commission that to the best of his knowledge Carroll County had not moved forward with a proposal related to medical cannabis. 2. Zoning Text Amendment – Medical Cannabis Overlay District The Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the proposed ordnance and map. A distance requirement was included in the proposed text for discussion purposes. The proposed distance requirement would mandate that any cannabis use must be located at least 1,000 feet from any property with a public school. This was based on a proposed bill considered by Baltimore County. It was further discussed that the originally proposed Baltimore County bill had included a variety of distance requirements from other uses. The final, adopted version of that bill retained only a 500-foot distance requirement from schools. There was discussion regarding distance requirements. The Commission also discussed the idea of capping the number of growers to be permitted in the City to a single grower. In response to inquiry, staff informed the Commission that state law prohibits growing, processing and selling of medical marijuana in the same location. State law caps the total number of growers to 15 and limits the number of dispensaries to two per senate district. Commissioner Graham moved for approval of the proposed ordinance with the reduction of the distance requirement for public schools from 1,000 feet to 500 feet in keeping with local context and to limit the quantity to one grower. Commissioner Palmer seconded. The motion passed unanimously. V. Planning Commission and Public Comments Commissioner Graham thanked everyone and the City for making Fall Festival a huge success, including the Fantastic Friday event which helps to support developmentally challenged children. VI. Adjournment Motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Graham and seconded by Commissioner Palmer. PZC Meeting Summary 2015-10-08 2 of 2