LEXINGTON — Recreational marijuana is now legal in Ohio, but you won’t find any retailers popping up in Lexington.
Lexington’s village council voted Jan. 15 to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the commercial retail sale of marijuana.
The ordinance’s official language bans the processing and dispensing of adult use cannabis, as well as cannabis laboratories, cultivation areas and cultivation facilities.
The ordinance does not ban recreational marijuana use or home grow, both of which are protected under Ohio law.
The ordinance passed 4-0-1 with support from council president Adam Gongwer and council members Kim Little, Jeffrey O’Brien and Todd Wise. New councilman Aaron Hoptry abstained from the vote. Councilmen Keith Bacin and Wynn Kearns were absent.
The ordinance was not on the agenda posted before the meeting and was passed by emergency, meaning council waived its customary second reading. Since it was passed by a simple majority, the ordinance will take effect 30 days after passage.
Gongwer said the ordinance wasn’t on the publicized agenda because it was drafted so soon before the meeting.
“We usually try to publish that agenda on the Friday before a meeting. (Law director John Studenmund) didn’t get us the ordinance until Monday,” Gongwer said.
“I know it doesn’t look good that we added it at the last second. That was not in our intent.”
‘This was not something we wanted in the community’
Despite it being a last-minute agenda item, Gongwer and other village officials said they felt confident in how constituents would want them to vote.
“The majority view of the council was this was not something we wanted in the community,” Wise said. “I think all of us that voted for this prohibition felt our citizens would back us on this one.”
Gongwer pointed out there was no outcry or public opposition when village council voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in 2019.
Mayor Robert Jarvis, a former council member, said he voted in favor of the 2019 ban and would have supported Monday’s ordinance if he were still on council.
“I believe council is representing the majority of the residents here in Lexington,” he said. “They did what they felt was appropriate.”
Kearns, who was not present at the meeting, said he also would have voted in favor of the ordinance.
“I don’t want to see that kind of business in Lexington,” he said.
Little said council members wanted to get legislation passed before any attempts were made to open a dispensary in the village.
“Lexington’s primarily a bedroom community with a good school system,” he said. “I don’t want to see kids have access to it. I know it’s still available, but I don’t want two or three stores in Lexington to have it.”
Hoptry said he abstained from the vote in part because he didn’t get to read the legislation before the meeting.
“I didn’t have any copies of legislation before council,” he said.
“I feel that something that could have such an economic impact one way or another should be looked at before a vote is cast.”
Hoptry said he would have liked to know more about the potential economic impact of a dispensary before the ordinance was voted on. Ohio’s new recreational marijuana laws include additional taxes that generate more revenue for municipalities where dispensaries are located.
“The mayor said that they had not looked into that,” Hoptry said. “I do wish we would have taken a little bit longer to look at it.
“My view would be to look at economic benefits we could gain from it in conjunction with the police chief to see if there would be any issues or complications, safety-wise. I’m very pro-business.”
Jarvis said council members typically get copies of the legislation before meetings and that the marijuana ordinance was an exception to the rule.
“We did not get the ordinance until about 4:15 that afternoon,” he said.
Jarvis also said village leaders hadn’t looked into how much tax revenue a dispensary might have generated, but that he didn’t expect it to be a significant amount.
Gongwer, a retired Ontario police officer, said he thinks the presence of a dispensary in the community wouldn’t be worth the extra revenue.
“The expenses in investigations, property crimes, trespassing and theft, what it has done to the schools outweighs any additional income tax into that municipality,” he said.
How did Lexington vote on Issue 2?
Ohioans voted to legalize recreational marijuana use and sales last year with the passage of Issue 2.
But if it were solely up to Lexington, Issue 2 wouldn’t have passed.
Just over 55 percent of eligible voters in Lexington showed up to the polls in November. Nearly all of them (97.35 percent) cast their vote on Issue 2.
The majority of Lexington residents voted against legalizing recreational marijuana use — 993 opponents to 884 supporters, according to the Richland County Board of Elections.