Medical and Adult Use Marijuana Code Amendments

Special Exception Process for marijuana dispensaries approved by Mayor and Council

On December 20, 2022, Mayor and Council voted 6-1 to approve an amendment to the Unified Development Code to add a Mayor and Council Special Exception land use procedure for marijuana dispensaries wishing to locate the City. This process applies to both medical and adult-use dispensaries and also applies to relocations or certain expansions of existing dispensaries.

This decision follows nine months of stakeholder and public engagement, as well as research and review of other AZ jurisdiction policies.

Mayor and Council Public Hearing

On December 20, 2022, the City of Tucson Mayor and Council will hold a Public Hearing to review and make a decision on the Adult Use and Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Special Exception UDC Code Amendment. The meeting agenda and materials, as well as instructions on how to submit comments or request to speak at the hearing, may be located on the Mayor and Council page.

The Planning Commission held a public hearing on this item on November 16, 2022. At that meeting, the Commission voted 7-2 to recommend approval of the proposal to Mayor and Council without support for the addition of a Mayor and Council Special Exception land use procedure to marijuana dispensaries in C-2 and C-3 zones. Materials from the public hearing may be located on the Planning Commission webpage here.

Mayor and Council Direction

During the March 22, 2022 meeting Tucson Mayor Romero asked for a motion to direct City of Tucson staff to move forward with the process of amending the Unified Development Code (UDC). The motion directed the City Manager and staff to initiate the process for amending the UDC to establish a Special Exception process that would allow adult use marijuana establishments to be located within the City under specified conditions. This amendment process is a continuation of the action taken by Mayor and Council on April 6, 2021.

Watch the Mayor and Council Study Session discussion
Legal Action Report

What does the motion taken by Mayor and Council mean?
Planning and Development staff is currently pulling together a list of stakeholders and doing initial work to prepare for a stakeholder meeting to begin the process of creating the Special Exception for the Social Equity Licenses, as directed by Mayor and Council. Staff hopes to host the first stakeholder meeting sometime in May 2022. This will be a code amendment, and generally those amendments take around six months to complete. The amendment must be reviewed by the Planning Commission at a public hearing and be reviewed and voted upon by Mayor and Council at a subsequent public hearing.

What do you need to know about the history of Social Equity in Arizona?

Social Equity Ownership Program
The Arizona Department of Health Services states the Social Equity Ownership Program was designed to promote the ownership and operation of licensed marijuana establishments by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws. Social equity license holders are required to develop and implement policies to ensure that the marijuana establishment will provide a benefit to one or more communities disproportionately affected by the enforcement of Arizona’s previous marijuana laws.

Social Equity Licenses
Twenty-six adult-use marijuana establishment licenses were issued to applicants who qualified under the Social Equity Ownership Program. The Department accepted applications for these licenses from December 1, 2021 through December 14, 2021. All applications were reviewed for administrative and substantive completeness. Applications deemed substantively complete were entered into a random selection to issue the 26 available licenses. The random selection drawing took place April 8, 2022.

General Application Requirements

• Application must list each individual who is a principal officer or board member of the applying entity
• No one can be a principal officer or board member on more than two applications.
• Each principal officer or board member must attest that they do not have an excluded felony offense
• At least 51% ownership of the applying entity must belong to principal officer(s) or board member(s) who have documentation of completing the required Department-provided training course and meet at least three (3) out of the four (4) social equity eligibility requirements.

Social Equity Eligibility Requirements

• Income level less than 400% of the poverty level in three of the years between 2016 and 2020
• Have been personally adversely affected by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws
• Has had a relative adversely affected by the enforcement of the previous marijuana laws
• Has lived 3 of the years between 2016 and 2020 at one the three areas identified as being disproportionality affected by the enforcement of previous marijuana law

Disproportionately Impacted Areas
The Arizona Department of Health Services identified areas that were disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws. To apply for a social equity license, 51% of the applying entity must belong to the principal officer(s) or board member(s) who meet three (3) of the four (4) eligibility criteria listed in A.A.C. R9-18-303(B). Residing in one of the identified zip codes for three (3) years between 2016-2020 is one of those four eligibility criteria.

Marijuana Background
Planning and Development Services developed amendments to the Unified Development Code (UDC) to create regulations for adult use marijuana dispensaries following voter approval of Proposition 207, Smart and Safe Arizona. The code amendment was adopted by Mayor and Council on April 6, 2021. The City of Tucson held a Public Hearing to review and make a decision on the Adult Use and Medical Marijuana UDC Code Amendment. At that meeting, the Mayor and Council voted 7-0 to adopt changes to the UDC related to Adult Use and Medical Marijuana.

Mayor and Council signed and adopted the ordinance during that meeting, which became effective on May 6, 2021.
Materials from that public hearing are located on the Mayor and Council Agenda Page.

Planning and Development Services developed amendments to the Unified Development Code (UDC) to create regulations for adult use marijuana dispensaries following voter approval of Proposition 207, Smart and Safe Arizona. The code amendment was adopted by Mayor and Council in April 2021.

Mayor and Council Public Hearing

On April 6, 2021, the City of Tucson held a Public Hearing to review and make a decision on the Adult Use and Medical Marijuana UDC Code Amendment. At that meeting, the Mayor and Council voted 7-0 to adopt changes to the UDC related to Adult Use and Medical Marijuana. The following is the signed adopted ordinance from that meeting, which becomes effective on May 6, 2021:

• Signed Ordinance #11828(PDF, 2MB)

All the materials from that public hearing may be located on the Mayor and Council Agenda Page. 

Planning Commission Meetings

On January 27, 2021, PDSD scheduled the Medical and Adult Use Code Amendment for a study session with the City of Tucson Planning Commission. That meeting was suspended due to a lack of quorum. Those quorum issues have now been addressed and the following is the new schedule for Planning Commission review:

Planning Commission meetings to review the Medical and Adult Use Code Amendment were held on following dates:

• Study Session - March 10, 2021 - The following is the video from that meeting:

• Public Hearing - March 17, 2021 - The following is the video from that meeting:

The Planning Commission materials from both of those meetings may be located here.

Recent Public Meetings

On January 11 & 12, 2021, PDSD held two virtual public meetings to discuss upcoming proposed amendments to the Unified Development Code (UDC) related to adult-use marijuana and medical marijuana. The following are materials from those meetings:

• Monday, January 11, 2021 - 12:00pm-1:30pm
  • The presentation from that meeting may be located here(PDF, 219KB).
  • A summary of the meeting may be located here(PDF, 111KB) .

• Tuesday, January 12, 2021 - 5:30pm-7:00pm
  • The presentation from that meeting may be located here(PDF, 212KB).
  • A summary of the meeting may be located here(PDF, 107KB).

If you would like to provide comments on the UDC amendments related to Medical and Adult Use Marijuana please fill out the following form here.

Background

On September 9, 2020, the Mayor and Council held a study session to discuss COVID-related issues with medical marijuana and to initiate the process for UDC amendments in response to the upcoming AZ Smart and Safe Act. At that meeting, they directed staff to find temporary solutions to the COVID related issues and begin the process to make more permanent changes to the Unified Development Code related to adult use Marijuana.

• Materials from that meeting may be located here.

On October 19, 2020, PDSD held a stakeholder meeting with business owners to discuss COVID-related issues they are experiencing, what options are currently available to them to address those issues and to discuss the upcoming AZ Smart and Safe Act. Some of the issues discussed were related to curbside pickup, delivery, lobbies and dispensary sizes, and parking.

• A meeting summary from the meeting may be located here(PDF, 123KB).
• The presentation from that meeting may be located here(PDF, 79KB).

On October 26, 2020, PDSD provided the Mayor and Council with an off-agenda memorandum with existing and potential tools to address COVID-related issues for medical marijuana dispensaries.

• The memo distributed to M&C may be located here(PDF, 210KB).

November 17, 2020, the Mayor and Council held a study session as a follow up on the September 9, 2020 study session to discuss solutions to the COVID-related issues with medical marijuana and to provide further direction for UDC amendments in response to the recently passed AZ Smart and Safe Act.

• Materials from that meeting may be located here.

On December 17, 2020, PDSD held a stakeholder meeting with business owners to discuss the recently passed AZ Smart and Safe Act. Some of the issues discussed were related to dispensary sizes, parking, stand-alone manufacturing, and off-site cultivation.

• The presentation from that meeting may be located here(PDF, 100KB).