KALISPELL — The Kalispell City Council has passed the first ordinance on a reading restricting marijuana sales to industrial areas within city limits.
Marijuana dispensaries, cultivation and manufacturing plants will be permitted in certain Industrial zones in Kalispell with buffer areas in between residential zones.
Kalispell City Manager Doug Russell said marijuana businesses must have a 300-foot buffer from parks, schools, and churches within each existing industrial zone.
Russell said the city will need to pass a revised second ordinance of the reading on Oct. 18, before the rules are finalized.
He says the city will now wait for final authority from the State of Montana regarding marijuana administrative rules before recreational sales become legal on Jan. 1, 2022.
“From a municipal perspective it really comes down to how you identify the land use within those, the rest of it is being taken care of at the state level in terms of any of their administrative rules, the state has the heavy lifting for this respective project,” said Russell.
Montana voters approved the use of recreational marijuana in the November 2020 election.
