Director of the JCCPC Kevin Myatt, explains to the council what to expect when legislation to legalize medical marijuana becomes law in 2025.
Change was the theme at the Cave City Council meeting yesterday evening. The council saw the resignation of Councilman Steve Pedigo a long-time council member, as well as an extended conversation with the Planning Director of the Joint City-County Planning Commission, Kevin Myatt, about the swift action needed for the city to be appropriately equipped for the upcoming 2025 legalization of medicinal marijuana.
After beginning the meeting Mayor Dwayne Hatcher invited Myatt to present the information he had available to the council, informing them that some of their more specifics questions were wither “grey area” or not within the purview of the planning commission.
Myatt sited the KRS directly, to give councilmembers a baseline on their options to accept or reject the coming statute.
Myatt explained to the council details that he and other local officials were made privy to, as well as unanswered questions that municipalities will have to work with, especially on the matter of enforcement which Myatt explained.
Myatt also explained that the zoning came with safeguards from the state that would not allow growing of distribution of medical marijuana within 1000 ft. of a school or daycare, with operations of such businesses to be contained to indoor facilities with no outdoor operations, as to minimize any affect to the local community.
It was also explained that should a municipality “opt-out” of the decision, they would be able to change that decision at any time relatively easily, whereas should they “opt-in” and then decide that the production and dispensing had caused more problems for the city, the process of recanting their vote would be much more difficult.
Councilman Brandon Wright raised the concern of oversight and enforcement of the new edict, with a special concern to a hypothetical new daycare business moving into an area that is within 1000 ft of a dispensary that had already been established, Myatt explained that this fell into a “grey area” with what the state had provided.
While his concern was highly specific, it is important to note that these decisions have no precedence and are forcing councilmembers to work in “uncharted” territory. Wright made highlighted his own personal beliefs on the councils role in this and in the budding new industry.
Ultimately, the council agreed to “opt-in” in a 4-1 vote with Councilwoman Beverly Ford being the only nay-sayer, as she explained that she would request more information before making a final decision. While the motion was passed, Myatt explained that he would be sending the council members all the information that was available to the JCCPC, as to better inform them of their plan for the future.
The next item of note on the agenda was the resignation of Councilman Steve Pedigo, who in a letter read by Mayor Hatcher thanked the councilmembers and the public for the time that he had spent with them. The loss felt by Pedigo’s peers was apparent in Mayor Hatcher’s voice while reading.
No reason was given for the resignation but matters quickly moved to filling the empty seat, with Councilman Wright being the first to move for a nomination, Councilman Dennie Doyle moved that the council should meet in two weeks’ time to allow all councilmembers to consider a possible replacement, setting a date for a special called meeting on April, 22nd at 5p.m.
After agreeing to the special called meeting the council soon moved to adjourn.