More than a decade after Oregon made recreational marijuana use legal, Redmond made its first foray toward having dispensaries sell the drug in city limits.

Redmond voters in November 2024 backed making changes to city code that would allow dispensaries to operate in the city. About 53.5 percent of voters approved such a measure, and about 70 percent of voters were in favor of instituting a local sales tax on any dispensaries that operate in the city.

“We want to implement the will of the electorate, but we want to do it in a manner that respects the 46 percent of the people who actually voted against it,” said mayor Ed Fitch. “I think we can accomplish both access and revenue that was approved by the voters, but also make sure it doesn’t have a deleterious effect on the community.”

As soon as late March, city council could make the voter-supported changes that would allow dispensaries to operate in the city. Current city code does not allow permits or licenses for anything that violates federal law. Council could also institute time, place and manner rules and restrictions for any dispensaries.

“Council has discretion about how these businesses would operate, where they would operate, what would be the hours of operation, how far they can be from each other,” said city manager Keith Witcosky during a Feb. 25 city council meeting.

If council holds to the current timeline, code changes could be finalized by April 8 and would go into effect 30 days after. That means dispensaries could be licensed and operating in the city by early May.

However, there is a statewide moratorium on dispensary licenses, which are overseen by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. That means someone operating a dispensary in Redmond would have to close their current operation and transfer their license from elsewhere, which could take about two months to complete.

Other rules will affect where and how the dispensaries could operate. State law mandates that no dispensary can be located within 1,000 feet of a school and the owner would have to go through a background check.

In Redmond, a dispensary would require a land-use compatibility statement from the city. Staff also recommended council put additional regulations in place that would require any dispensary to be more than 500 feet from a day care center, park, homeless shelter, transit hub or drug treatment center.

That leaves relatively few areas where dispensaries can be located in the city. City staff showed a rudimentary map of locations that could meet requirements, and most of the locations were along the U.S. Highway 97 corridor, but out of the downtown area. Likely two dispensaries could operate in the city, one north and one south of downtown, which mayor Ed Fitch had in mind from the beginning.

City staff estimated that it would receive $150,000 to $200,000 in direct tax revenue from every dispensary that operates in the city, and an additional $55,000-$60,000 in shared marijuana tax revenue from the state.

Former city councilor Tobias Colvin, who was narrowly ousted in the November election, asked councilors to put aside their personal feelings on marijuana and respect the will of the people, which voted to allow marijuana in the city.

“If you’re against it then abstain,” said Colvin, during the public comment period. “Show your dissent but don’t get in the way of the progress.”

Redmond School Board member Eric Lea said he hoped voters would oppose the measure.

“I feel that we have missed an opportunity … to prevent the proliferation of marijuana in our community,” said Lea.

He said that he encouraged the council to work on policies that keep marijuana out of schools and public spaces.

Council made no decisions at the Feb. 25 meeting, but did send a request to the planning commission to draft regulations on the matter.