ORANGE PARK – After fewer than two hours of discussion, the Town of Orange Park Planning and Zoning Board approved a recommendation to the Town Council to allow dispensaries within town limits.

The recommendation approved July 13 comes with few caveats that would impact not only dispensary owners considering moving within the town limits, but pharmacies, too.

Under Florida Statutes, municipal governments must zone medical marijuana dispensaries as they would zone a pharmacy. So municipal governments cannot place restrictions on dispensaries, but can tighten their restrictions on pharmacies themselves.

The board recommends the full Council approve an ordinance to allow dispensaries within the town limits that includes a 500-foot buffer zone between pharmacies and restricts where pharmacies can build.

As recommended, the ordinance will also have a grandfather clause to protect existing structures and a pathway for pharmacies – or dispensaries – to apply for regulation variances.

Dispensaries must also abide by state regulations that stipulate a dispensary must not be within 500 feet of a school.

“I believe that this is medicine, that this has been approved by the … state… and I think it would make sense that we approve this within the town limits,” said Mary Cobb, Planning and Zoning Board member. “However, I think that we should furthermore define what a pharmacy is.”

The board voted to recommend to the council that they approve an ordinance that bars dispensaries from setting up shop within commercial neighborhood zoning categories – categories normally reserved for neighborhood convenience stores and gas stations.

There are no restrictions on where pharmacies can open currently in the town charter.

Many municipalities have few restrictions on pharmacies themselves, or even language written into their framework documents that define pharmacies. Municipal governments across the state will unravel the implementation legislation passed in the 2017 legislative session and adopt laws to accommodate it.

Many municipal governments passed temporary moratoria on medical marijuana dispensaries after voters passed Amendment 2 to legalize the medicine.

The Town of Orange Park enacted a temporary moratorium on dispensaries last October that would sunset after a year. Council members wanted to give the State Legislature time to craft the implementation bill and the town time to craft land development regulations around it.

“The town was going to be in a position of not having any land development regulations to progress that constitutional provision, and also there would be no acting legislation on the books that would give any legal guidance or authority to municipalities such as the town as to how this was going to work,” said Sam Garrison, town attorney.

However, because the Town of Orange Park is landlocked, as in, it has a shortage of vacant land with which to invite new developments, it is unclear how much space is actually available within each zoning district in which a dispensary could be placed.

As recommended, dispensaries would be permitted in commercial general, commercial intensive and planned unit development zoning districts. Those districts make up a small but visible percentage of the town’s landmass. An even smaller percentage of the storefront dispensaries that fall under the board’s recommendation are currently vacant.

However, exactly how much space there would be available for dispensaries in the town remains uncertain.

“The short answer is – I have no idea,” said Stephen Smith, director of economic and community development. “The town doesn’t keep records on that.”

Town residents supported Amendment 2 nearly on par with the rest of the state. In the town, 67 percent of residents said yes to the amendment.

Cobb said with that many town residents who supported Amendment 2, town representatives would not be faithfully implementing their wishes if they outright refused access to the medicine within town limits.

The soonest residents can expect to see council discussion on the topic is August, although an exact meeting date has yet to be set. Council members can vote to outright deny dispensaries or allow them and adopt regulations on pharmacies if they wish.