Scott Gunnerson

FLORIDA TODAY

Cocoa Beach will allow marijuana to be dispensed in the vicinity of popular tourist destinations if Florida voters in November approve a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana.

Locations near the Cocoa Beach Pier, Ron Jon Surf Shop and Shepard Park were all that was left after city staff applied restrictions to force pot operations to keep their distance from major roads, schools, churches and residences.

The city commission passed 4-1 an ordinance Thursday night that would regulate where medical marijuana dispensaries or treatment centers can set up shop.

City Commissioner Ben Malik complained that the ordinance was too restrictive and the operations should be out in the open.

“People who truly need this are people who are suffering,” Malik said. “I think it is inhumane to put these people in the back alleys.”

The ordinance would also regulate recreational marijuana, if it were to ever become legalized in Florida.

A map provided by the city in which locations for legal marijuana businesses were highlighted in green covered a parking lot on Dixie Lane owned by Ron Jon Surf Shop, according to Brevard County Property Appraiser records.

A Ron Jon official said Friday that the iconic surfing retail company with 12 locations in four states has no plans to allow a marijuana operation on its property.

“We are a family-friendly business, so that doesn’t fit our business model,” said Heather Lewis, Ron Jon marketing director. “It is not something we would be doing at Ron Jon’s or on Ron Jon property.”

A marijuana business could also locate in a building on Dixie Lane that houses Allen Engineering, according to Zach Montgomery, development services director for Cocoa Beach.

The two other parcels are near the entrance of the Cocoa Beach Pier, straddling Meade Avenue. Officials for Orlando-based Westgate Resorts, which recently purchased the Cocoa Beach Pier, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

Residents Thursday night asked commissioners to “just say no” and prohibit all marijuana operations in the city.

Mayor Dave Netterstrom, however, had stated he would respect the will of the voters if they decide to legalize medical marijuana in Florida this fall.

“We want to have something in place so we don’t have a dozen of these show up in places all over town,” Netterstrom said before the vote Thursday.

“It’s not perfect what we’ve got, but it is something so we can control the process.”

Contact Gunnerson at sgunnerson@floridatoday.com, 321-360-1016 and Twitter @scottgunnerson