Scottsdale pot shops earn council support to stay open later

Scottsdale medical marijuana facilities have been given the green light to extend their hours of operation an additional three hours — to 10 p.m. — after Scottsdale City Council approved the city-wide update.

The city’s original medical marijuana text amendment stated that all medical marijuana facilities within Scottsdale’s zoning ordinances can operate between 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Lauren Niehaus, Government Relations Specialist of Harvest House of Cannabis, submitted the application, asking for hours to be shifted to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Scottsdale Planning Commission first heard this case on July 8, and recommended approval with a unanimous vote; seven to zero. The zoning ordinance addresses regulations to active permit-holders existing before Sept. 30, 2016.

“The reason the amendment had to return to Planning Commission is the original amendment did not include the two sections affected by the amendment, only one of them. At the advice of our legal staff, we took it back to the Planning Commission with a revised amendment that included both sections,” said Greg Bloemberg, coordinator for this case.

The amendment was revised to include Section 1.403.M.2.g, which involves permits issued after Sept. 30, 2016. So, anyone holding a permit issued after that date was included in the amendment.

The Planning Commission heard the revised case on Aug. 26, and recommended approval with another unanimous vote. The Scottsdale City Council heard the case on Sept 22 and approved it with a vote four to three, with Vice Mayor Solange Whitehead and Councilmembers Linda Milhaven and Kathy Littlefield dissenting.

Harvest House of Cannabis has 15 locations across Arizona, and 39 nationwide: including California, North Dakota, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, and a couple more in the works.

Statewide medical marijuana rules are administered by the Arizona Department of Health, and each individual city can make their own rules; for example, zoning buffers. Zoning buffers determine how close a dispensary can be to places like schools, drug rehab centers, other dispensaries, etc. Each city also has the authority to create their own hours of operation.

The state of Arizona lists hours of operation as 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Some cities adopted it right away, and some took a more conservative approach to ensure that crime doesn’t go up and becomes a burden for the Scottsdale Police Department; and to see how it works in a shorter timeframe before opening it up.

Ms. Niehaus worked closely with the Scottsdale Police Department on the amendment to address any concerns they’d have. One concern is public safety based on the remote locations of these facilities. Another concern was that they would have to dispatch law enforcement constantly to deal with altercations.

“…and that just hasn’t been the case… you really don’t see an increase in crime around our dispensaries, because people have become aware that some places have security guards, other don’t, but you do have cameras everywhere, indoor and out, with 24-hour live surveillance,” said Ms. Niehaus.

All corporate employees and Harvest House dispensary agents go through ongoing, extensive safety training. Harvest House also has a national security director, along with multiple assistant directors. The assistant director in Arizona oversees all security in Arizona, ensures training is up to date and makes regular physical visits to the facilities. These directors are all former law enforcement professionals.

Patients had asked for later hours, and Ms. Niehaus says this plays a big role in why Harvest started working towards changing the amendment. She also says later hours can play a role in the cities revenue, as patients will drive to a different city if their local dispensary is closed.

The move for the changes in the amendment started in December 2019. Two comments were received from the public on the subject. One disagreed with the dispensary being there in the first place, and the other was a disagreement with the text amendment.

“In cannabis, you see that a lot. It’s a topic where people are still very passionate one way or the other. So, we seek to reach out to stakeholders and educate them about medical marijuana in the state, and some will see that it’s not as big, bad and scary as they think it is, and other won’t and that’s okay,” said Ms. Niehaus.

The vote to legalize recreational adult use of marijuana in the state of Arizona begins Nov. 3.

“If passed, the city would need to update the zoning ordinance to reflect the new law,” said Tim Curtis, current planning director, about possible similarities with the Medical Marijuana Hours of Operation Text Amendment.

Editor’s Note: Alexia Nattrass is a student reporter at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.