The Cordova City Council may discuss changing local marijuana dispensary laws in the coming months, citing its potential to boost the local economy.
Mayor Kristin Smith and other city officials have mentioned loosening marijuana dispensary restrictions at recent meetings, although no formal municipal code amendment has been drafted yet. Cordova currently doesn’t have any dispensaries.
“I think we all know that there is marijuana in town,” Smith said during the Sept. 3 council meeting. “If we’re not taking advantage of that we might be leaving money on the table.”
Non-medical marijuana use and possession has been legal in Alaska for those 21 and older since 2015. However, the city of Cordova has stricter regulations than those stipulated on the statewide level – specifically regarding the physical placement of marijuana establishments.
In Alaska, dispensaries cannot be located within 500 feet of a school, recreation or youth center, religious establishment, or correctional facility. But Cordova requires a 1,000-foot buffer zone between any potential dispensary and public or private elementary or secondary education facility.
Back in June, Cordova Public Works Director Kevin Johnson told the City Council that it might be worth at least revisiting local dispensary laws, especially since there has been some interest in bringing marijuana business to town.
“We’ve yet to get an establishment in town, we’re in need of revenue, (and) we all know there’s pot in town whether there’s a store or not,” he told the council in June.
Cordova’s laws on the 1,000-foot buffer zone were passed in 2018, to coincide with federal regulations.
Johnson told the council that city lawyers’ main concern about shortening the distance requirements has to do with a potential loss of federal funding for public schools – since the 1,000-foot parameter is set by the federal government. Individual states and communities, however, have authority to create their own dispensary policies.
Council members during the Sept. 3 meeting indicated that they’d support having a work session to further discuss any changes to current marijuana dispensary code.
“There’s not any one silver bullet that’s going to help us with our budget questions, but maybe there’s a series of things to look at, and this might be one of them,” Smith said at the meeting.
