Vicky O. Misa

On Monday Shawnee City Commissioners approved a resolution to implement a $1,500 permit fee annually for medical marijuana establishments.

City Manager Chance Allison said costs associated with the required yearly compliance form from OMMA (Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority) have been high.

“The city would be losing money (without implementation of the fee),” he said.

In Monday's agenda, Planning Director Rebecca Blaine said the legalization of medical marijuana in November of 2018 brought new challenges.

“In Fall of 2019 OMMA started requiring an annual compliance form to be researched and signed off by five individuals of the overseeing municipality to ensure compliance with zoning, planning, fire code, building code and code enforcement,” she said. “This addition to the process has equated to almost $500 in in-house staff time, as well as approximately $4,600 in legal advisement for medical marijuana related items.”

She said after some research, she found that communities are charging between $750 and $1,500 for medical marijuana related businesses.

“The City of Broken Arrow recently won a court case, being justified in their $2,500 fee schedule,” she explained. “Pottawatomie County also recently passed an annual $2,000 fee to help cover the staff time to process these types of applications and compliance forms.”

She recommended an annual fee of $1,500 to cover staff and legal time across all classifications of medical marijuana-related businesses.

An emergency clause also was unanimously approved during the meeting.