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WORTHINGTON — The Worthington Planning Commission discussed the future of zoning cannabis in the city at Tuesday’s meeting. With cannabis businesses being able to open and operate in 2025 following its recreational legalization, Worthington — along with the city of Adrian — will be enforcing its own ordinance on its manufacturing, usage and sale separate from other Nobles County communities. Previously, the city had set a no cap limit on the number of registrations it would be required to give to prospective distributors.
The recommended schedule of use allowance per district zoning in the city shown at the meeting included:
Indoor cultivation in M-1 (light manufacturing district) and M-2 (general manufacturing district) and outdoor cultivation in the transition zone (TZ) district.Cannabis manufacturing, processing and extraction in M-1 and M-2, with the possibility of it either being permitted outright or by conditional use.Hemp manufacturing in M-1 and M-2, which would operate under the same rules as cannabis manufacturing.Wholesale in M-1, M2 and B-3 (general business district). B-3 would be allowed by conditional use only and would follow the requirements of general warehousing.Cannabis retail in B-2 (central business district), B-3 and B-4 (shopping center district). All three zones would require conditional use permits.Transportation in M-1 and M-2. The plan would constitute a fleet-based business along with a physical location entailing primarily vehicle storage.Delivery in M-1 and M-2. Delivery would operate under the same rules as Transportation.Events in B-2, B-3, B4, M-1 and M-2.
The focus of the meeting’s discussion revolved around buffers that would be implemented between dispensaries and certain entities. The city is allowed to prohibit the operation of a cannabis business within 1,000 feet of a school or 500 feet of a daycare, residential treatment facility or an attraction within a public park that is regularly used by minors including playgrounds and athletic fields.
Worthington City Planner Matt Selof brought forward to the commission a recommendation of a 200 foot buffer from schools and no buffering requirements for daycares, parks and treatment facilities.
“When I put this together, I was gonna have to do a lot more research to figure out what constituted a residential treatment facility in town and where they might be at,” he told the commission. “In-home daycares are also sometimes difficult to know because they can change relatively easily but I did include day care centers in this. The primary area of concern as we looked at this was Oxford Street, primarily between Humiston and McMillan. Essentially, you would be prohibiting businesses on both the north and south side of Oxford Street from this whole intersection here between Oxford and Humiston over to the McMillan intersection. The whole chunk of Oxford Street would be prohibited if you went with the maximum 1,000 foot buffer from the school and then a 500 foot (buffer) from Trojan Field.”
Selof noted a similar tobacco buffer put in place that initially left Corky’s Corner unable to obtain a tobacco license as a gas station due to its proximity to Trojan Field as a deciding factor in the recommendation. The cannabis buffer raised some comments and suggestions from the commission on the area of Oxford Street adjacent to the field.
Contributed / Meredith Vaselaar
“(I would require) signage,” Commission chair Jason Gerdes suggested. “It’s (because of) the constant youth (presence) there. Across Oxford Street, there’s that buffer and whatever, but at least with the conditional use, it kind of allows us to say yes or no. That little building next to Verizon, that’s the first thing I thought, that little building and retail shop. That would not be an ideal spot under something like this. You don’t want that image that you’re portraying, (something along the lines of) ‘also sponsored by.’ It’s just the image and then people start talking about that kind of stuff you don’t wanna be hearing.”
I will say there are some actual signage limitations that are in the state law about it too,” Selof said. “I don’t fully understand this piece yet but there is some requirement about products being visible to people on neighboring properties. I don’t fully understand that portion of it yet so that’s why I didn’t really include it at this point. There is some stuff about that in state law and you can really go off that too. Maybe if you have a conditional use permit somewhere right here, maybe it’s signage that only faces Oxford Street or you can’t have products for display on a window facing the south or something. Not to be too blunt about it but most high schoolers know what these products are. They’re not going to see a retail store and be like, ‘Wow, what’s that?’”
“To me, the significance of a buffer is just basically a signal saying that you can’t even apply for a conditional use permit but having a space outside of the buffer also is not a green light for retail either,” added Commission member Erin Schutte Wazinski. “I guess I would be fine with going with staff’s recommendation, kind of with the asterisk, that any application for conditional use permit on that section south of Oxford Street north of Trojan Field, I think, would have a pretty hard look but I may be open to the look.”
Gerdes added that while the guidelines are months from becoming a reality, some of them could be a hindrance to other areas of town.
“Our action is going to be downtown. I feel that’s going to be the (center of) activity,” he said. “I don’t see many opportunities (on the) south side of Oxford Street, especially (by) Trojan Field. But then again, we’re forecasting out what it could look like. I just don’t want to encompass the downtown area, creating that (1,000-foot) buffer downtown or by those parks downtown. It really looks like it inhibits the downtown area.”
In other action, the commission:
Approved Bedford’s annexation of approximately 70 acres of property they own located east of Paul Avenue and north of Interstate 90 to facilitate future business expansion and utility services.Approved the Worthington Economic Development’s proposal of a preliminary plat of land located south of 27th Street and north of Interstate 90. The proposed subdivision will split the property into one lot, public right-of-way and three outlots.”}]] Buffers were a focus in the discussions Read More