Grove City Mayor Ike Stage plans to veto a plan to build the city’s first adult-use marijuana dispensary on Stringtown Road.
Grove City Council voted 3-2 to approve the Ohio Cannabis Company’s first dispensary in the Columbus area at a location off of I-71 on Stringtown Road, which currently houses the China Bell restaurant. This was despite a unanimous recommendation by the council’s zoning commission to reject the plan, arguing the location just west of I-71 is too prominent.
The dispensary owns three other locations in Canton, Upper Sandusky and Piqua.
Stage told WOSU he plans to veto the plan, but declined an interview on the subject until after he spoke to all city councilmembers.
Councilmember Randy Holt said at Monday’s council meeting he is in favor of the dispensary and argued in favor of amending rules the council set last year to allow for it to be built. He argued the city residents’ support of Issue 2 in 2023 should favor the city allowing a dispensary.
“Grove City residents voted 60% in favor of that. So while there’s people out there that don’t agree, it’s important to understand that the legislative process and the voting process produce 60% positive for marijuana in Grove City,” Holt said.
Brian Wingfield, a representative of the Ohio Cannabis Company, spoke briefly at the meeting and answered some of council’s questions. He argued approving the dispensary would create new jobs and allow Grove City to get in on the tax revenue that cities get from dispensaries within their borders.
Wingfield argued the dispensary was an adequate distance and that they would follow all state and local regulations if approved.
“This industry is highly regulated and we always adhere to state and local requirements to maintain a safe and secure, orderly business. Quite simply, if we don’t follow the rules, we don’t get a license to operate,” Wingfield said.
The debate on Monday came down to whether to allow the dispensary to skirt rules set by council last year to qualify for a special use permit. The parts of that law the dispensary wanted to be amended included allowing for a drive-thru for medical marijuana patients only and how the specific location violated a provision that the marijuana dispensaries be 500 feet or more away from residential buildings.
Councilmember Melissa Anderson said she opposed giving a permit to the dispensary because it violated those rules.
“It was a robust discussion that evening. And we went back and forth looking at each of the provisions. The legislation that we were looking at was not picked out of the sky,” Anderson said.
Grove City leaders spent a good part of the last year debating the rules around marijuana dispensaries. Many suburbs have chosen to outright ban adult-use dispensaries, but Grove City chose to lift its previous ban in 2024.
Anderson, Holt and other councilmembers largely agreed not to permit the drive-thru, because the dispensary said it would still be able to do curbside pickup for medical marijuana patients.
Grove City Mayor Ike Stage told WOSU he would veto the legislation, though he declined to elaborate about the reason behind his decision. Read More
