Draft Marijuana Licensing Rules Released for City of Portland

As local readers likely know, Portland completed its zoning regulations for marijuana stores last February. But at the time, the City deferred on a number of decisions such as what stores will be allowed to sell, and what criteria will need to be met to be able to open a retail store. Now the City has taken a big step toward answering those questions. The City released draft licensing rules last week. 

We’re still combing through the rules, but some notable takeaways off the bat: staff are proposing a cap of 20 total retail licenses, and a 250’ buffer between stores “to avoid having stores cluster in one location and to avoid over-saturation of the market." City staff are also offering the Council options for what seems to be essentially a first-in-time licensing system or, alternatively, a weighted lottery. Staff have said they prefer the first-in-time system.

Staff will be presenting their recommendations to the Economic Development and HHS Committees tomorrow, August 6, at 5:30 pm. This will be open to the public.