GEORGETOWN — The Sussex County Planning and Zoning commission voted to advance the ordinance governing marijuana establishments to the county council during its April 24 meeting, sending it back to the county council for another public hearing.
The county has a July 5 deadline to enact rules, or the state regulations go into effect. Many local municipalities have chosen to ban marijuana sales, but the enabling legislation does not allow counties to do so.
So the county has set to the task of regulating testing, manufacturing and retail cannabis operations. Vince Robertson, assistant county attorney, said previously the county didn’t have much interest in regulating which crops farmers could grow, and restrictions on manufacturing facilities were already quite strict.
Retail operations must meet four main conditions, along with other rules and guidelines published by various oversight organizations, in the proposed ordinance. Only one condition has changed since the ordinance was introduced in February, which is the restriction on hours of operation.
Previously, the county draft had hard coded hours, for example, between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. for retail operations. The board’s proposal would instead tie those operating hours to state regulations governing this type of business, and can be adjusted through rules changes rather than law changes.
Retail operations are also restricted to C3 zoning — the heaviest commercial…
