Council bans marijuana dispensaries

by Dan Holland

June 3 city council meeting

Broadview Heights City Council approved an ordinance amending a section of the city’s codified ordinances that will ban all marijuana dispensaries – both medical and recreational use – from operating in the city.

Medical marijuana was legalized statewide in 2016. Ohio voters subsequently voted in November 2023 to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and over.

Councilmembers voted on Nov. 20 to establish a 12-month moratorium on all new applications for marijuana-related activities in the city. It is projected that recreational-use marijuana dispensaries will begin operations statewide this summer.

“Cities can, if they so choose, ban only the existence of dispensaries within their municipality,” Broadview Heights Law Director Vince Ruffa said May 28. “They can’t change the state law in respect to use – private cultivation – things like that, but we can say we don’t want any dispensaries in the city.  When this came up with medical marijuana, this council did decide not to have any dispensaries within the city.”

“This has nothing to do with the legalities of it; it’s just about dispensaries, which we don’t want in the city,” Council President Robert Boldt told The Broadview Journal following the June 3 meeting. “We don’t think it’s a reflection of what the people and the residents want in this city. As far as individuals and all their rights; they still have all of those; it’s just that we’ll be banning it from being sold in a business in Broadview Heights.”

New pavilion

Councilmembers also passed an ordinance approving construction of a 24-foot-by 36-foot Raleigh Shelter pavilion at the end of a walkway that cuts across the city campus near the amphitheater. The structure will feature laminated wood beams and columns, a structural wood roof and dimensional roof shingles. Total cost for the pavilion is $41,475. A concrete pad will be poured after the structure is erected.

“We’ve been selling beer, wine and other beverages using a tent near the parking lot as a place to gather and sell things,” Mayor Sam Alai said. “It’s been a temporary structure that we’ve had to set up and take down over the years, but now we will have a more permanent structure. It will be set up opposite the side where the tent is now. We will hook it up to electricity and lighting, and it will have a concrete pad.”

Council also approved an agreement with the Cleveland Federation of Musicians to provide live music at the community amphitheater.

“We have been paying most of the bands now through the Cleveland Federation of Musicians,” Alai continued. “They are the union for the bands, and many of the bands are in the union and pay dues, and it helps local musicians – It’s a great thing, and I’m all for it. The money goes for local musicians to keep things local in Northeast Ohio, and we’re all about that.”

In other business, council members approved:

• An agreement with the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District for use of the Metroparks’ outdoor gun range for training purposes by the Broadview Heights Police Department.
• An agreement with J.D. Striping and Services, Inc. for the city’s 2024 street striping program.
• An agreement with the city of North Royalton regarding the extension of a sanitary sewer along Edgerton Road for the city of Broadview Heights.
• An agreement with NOACA for the Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program.
• An ordinance amending the codified ordinances to shift the responsibility of unkempt lawns from the city’s service department to the building department, and allow for a charge of $100 ($50 penalty/$50 administrative) to a homeowner or building owner whenever a contractor is utilized to cut grass deemed to be more than 6 inches high.
• A motion to approve a $10,000 donation to the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Community Awareness and Prevention Association.
• A motion to approve a $10,000 donation to the North Royalton City School District’s Drug Abuse Program. ∞