“Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive from these new customers at the Trulieve of Beavercreek facility,” a representative of Trulieve told council Monday evening. “I think this shows their commitment to customer service and their focus on providing a safe and clean and friendly environment for their patients and customers.”
Trulieve will also be the only cannabis dispensary in the city for the forseeable future. Beavercreek has a ban in place for new cannabis dispensaries in the city, both medical and recreational, and a ban on sales of marijuana except for the Trulieve facility, which was grandfathered in due to its medical marijuana license.
Councilmembers Glen Duerr, Tiffany Schwartz, and Joanna Garcia voted to move the legislation to a second reading, while councilmembers Charles Curran, David Litteral, as well as Vice Mayor Pete Bales and Mayor Don Adams voted against it.
Local governments can prohibit the use of an adult use dispensary in their jurisdiction if they pass legislation doing so within 120 days from the date the license was issued. Trulieve received its recreational license on June 21. If the ban had passed, Trulieve would still have the right to place the issue on the ballot of the next general election - which in this case would be November 2025 - by submitting a petition with at least 100 signatures to the Board of Elections.
“The city of Beavercreek, its charter, its structure, the way things are put together, the way they are, is because the citizens like a level of control,” Duerr said. “They like a good level of control over the purse strings and over major decisions. And I think this qualifies as one.”
Though Ohio voters approved Issue 2 in 2023, Beavercreek residents voted no by a thin margin of 60 votes, which “across...30,000 voters is very small, but it does tell me that the city is evenly split,” Duerr said.
Duerr and other council members also raised concerns about exercising home rule, as well as a potential uptick in the volume of customers in a very residential area.
However, other council members pointed out the police department has had no complaints about the facility, and in speaking to neighbors and other city residents, the dispensary had been a “good neighbor.”
“When I originally discussed this, I stated that I am welcome to citizen input,” Litteral said. “Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to go out into the community and try to speak to people about this, and for the most part, what input I received from was: people don’t care. Period.”
“Quite frankly, I think passing the ordinance is a waste of money and time,” Bales said. “They’ve been a good business in our community. By forcing us to put it on the ballot again, and have our community vote on it again, to me, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
Cannabis company Trulieve acquired Harvest of Ohio in July, along with its licenses for medical cannabis dispensaries in Columbus and Beavercreek. Trulieve, headquartered in Quincy, Florida, currently operates over 200 dispensaries across the country.
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