Why Should Delaware Care?
As the state wrestles with its planning and execution of recreational marijuana sales, new ordinances and zoning rules proposed in Delaware’s largest county could significantly limit where recreational sales shops could open.
New Castle County is set to discuss new rules for retail marijuana stores that would make it significantly more difficult for vendors to find storefronts.
With legal recreational marijuana sales set to begin in just a few months, many jurisdictions are racing to establish prohibitions or limits on the new industry.
New rules in Delaware’s largest county come as Wilmington city officials were lambasted for their own proposed rules and ban, while Dover and Seaford are beginning similar discussions. Sussex County has already passed restrictive limits on where marijuana businesses could locate.
The New Castle County ordinance, which was sponsored by council members Janet Kilpatrick and David Tackett, is set for discussion by the New Castle County Land Use Committee on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
If recommended by the committee and approved by the full county council, it would severely limit where retail marijuana is sold.
What’s in the ordinance?
Ordinance 24-138 would make it so marijuana retail shops that weren’t licensed as medical dispensaries before July 1 would be limited to only three zoning districts.
It would be allowed as a special use in the commercial neighborhood (CN) district, which requires additional approvals, and as a limited use and in the commercial regional (CR) and
Industrial (I) district, which has additional permitting requirements.
The proposal prohibits new dispensaries from opening within 1 mile of already licensed marijuana businesses.
Stores would also be barred from opening within 1,000 feet of a daycare, school, college, house of worship, substance abuse treatment facility, government building, park or library.
The ordinance also outlines different agricultural guidelines for marijuana cultivation in the county, relegating it to a light industrial use in the office regional (OR) district.
Should it pass the council and get signed by the county executive, it would go into effect immediately.
What’s been going on around the state?
This ordinance isn’t the first in Delaware looking to put significant guardrails on the newly legal recreational marijuana market.
The 2023 Delaware Marijuana Control Act, that established the tax and sales framework, prohibits counties from outright banning sales, so counties have taken to heavily restricting where the businesses will be able to open, if they weren’t already established.
In recent weeks, Wilmington has been under fire for its proposal to ban marijuana sales in the city. A council member recently pulled an ordinance proposing a 100-foot buffer between retail operations and homes and schools – a drop from its initial 300-foot recommendation.
Another council member proposed a ban on selling marijuana in the city until council could agree on appropriate buffers.
The state’s second largest county, Sussex County, has already drastically limited where retail shops could open, as reported by WHYY News.
The Sussex County ordinance, passed in May, prohibits retail dispensaries from opening within 3 miles of municipal boundaries, other retail marijuana shops, churches, schools, colleges and substance abuse treatment facilities.
Get Involved
The New Castle County Land Use Committee will meet at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, in person at the Louis L. Redding City County Building at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington or on Zoom. Read the agenda here.
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