Medical marijuana is coming to the Lehigh Valley, and municipalities are getting ready.
The board of commissioners in Bethlehem Township on Monday made sure they’re prepared with companies already looking to set up grower/processor or dispensary businesses within its borders.
It’s a step every municipality has to take. Under Pennsylvania law, municipalities have to allow for “every possible use known to man” in order to have a say in where certain businesses can be located, said the head of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission who has been advising local governments on the new program.
“We’re going to get at least one grower/processor and a couple of dispensaries, maybe a little bit more,” said Becky Bradley, executive director of the planning commission. “I know of 12 different entities looking in the Lehigh Valley.
“There’s a lot of money to be made, clearly, in marijuana, whatever you think of it. Long story short, the communities are trying to get ready for it.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Health says it will accept permit applications Feb. 20 to March 20 for medical marijuana growers/processors and dispensaries. Northampton and Lehigh counties are among 10 counties that comprise Pennsylvania’s Region 2-Northeast, where four dispensary permits and two grower/processor permits are set to be awarded. The state expects its medical marijuana program to be fully implemented in 2018.
Bethlehem Township solicitor Wendy Nicolosi recommended township commissioners make it a priority this year to get laws on the books for where medical marijuana businesses can go. Dispensaries, like pharmacies, should go in the township’s general commercial zoning district, commissioners decided Monday in authorizing township Manager Melissa Shafer to advertise the new restrictions; growers and processors should go alongside other industrial uses, such as along Brodhead Road or in the industrial park bisected by Emrick Boulevard.
These are the areas of Bethlehem Township where medical marijuana grower/processor and dispensary facilities, along with related businesses, may be located under a measure set for final approval March 6, 2017. (Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com)
“It’s not a field, it’s not agricultural,” Nicolosi said of indoor growing facilities. “They’re served by water and sewer. To be honest, you’d never know they were anything other than any other manufacturing facility.”
The township law covers grower/processor and dispensary facilities, as well as secure medical marijuana delivery vehicle offices and academic clinical research centers.
Township officials are limiting the size of growing/processing facilities to 20,000 square feet and dispensaries to 5,000 square feet. Dispensaries can’t have drive-throughs or outdoor vending machines, or home delivery, according to some of the regulations.
A final vote on the medical marijuana measures is set for March 6 by the board of commissioners.
“Several parties have expressed possible interest in locating within Bethlehem Township in recent months and weeks,” township planning and economic development Director Nathan Jones said in a memo to commissioners.
Want to grow, dispense marijuana in Pa.?
Shirley Frey, a longtime resident of Christian Springs Road, criticized the move to permit medical marijuana facilities along Brodhead Road near her home. She views marijuana as an illegal drug, rather than the tightly controlled prescription medication approved by state lawmakers under a bill signed by Gov. Tom Wolf last April.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Frey told the commissioners, adding later: “You have me absolutely terrified.”
Commissioners’ President Michael Hudak sought to ease Frey’s concerns, which also focused on the potential for increased crime. Medical marijuana isn’t going to be sold in plant form in Pennsylvania, Hudak stressed, but only in preparations such as tinctures and oils.
“It’s something we had to do,” Commissioner Thomas Nolan said, “not whether we had a choice.”
Bradley, from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, said her agency has been working since last July to offer language and advice for municipalities on crafting land-use regulations for medical marijuana. Bethlehem Township’s measure uses some of those points, said Shafer, the township manager.
“The fact that they’re looking at something in Bethlehem Township is a good sign that they’re taking the state law seriously,” Bradley said.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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