City of Tulsa officials are no longer asking for a 1,000-foot buffer between houses and medical marijuana growers or processors.
The change comes after talks involving the mayor’s office, industry representatives and code enforcement. Chief of Economic Development and Policy Nick Doctor said that changes the stance of the mayor's office on a proposed freeze of up to 90 days on issuing permits for growers or processors.
"I don’t think the urgency for the moratorium is there anymore with that 1,000-foot spacing requirement being taken out. We wanted to protect that residential space buffer if we were going to have it, but now that we’re pulling that out, I think that makes it less urgent and the need for a moratorium isn’t there," Doctor said.
Residents were most concerned about the potential aroma from marijuana operations.
"Odor would be considered a nuisance. And so, we think we have enforcement capabilities already built into our current ordinances that allow us to take care of that if that is a problem," Doctor said.
A couple tweaks to proposed zoning regulations will likely head off nuisance complaints.
"Changes that require ventilation and other protections there to prevent odor from being outside of that facility — the requirement that it be in an enclosed space," Doctor said.
Proposed zoning regulations were approved by the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission at its Wednesday afternoon meeting.
Councilors pulled the moratorium from tonight’s agenda.
