Hemp products subject to new licensing + zoning regulations

The city council has approved new licensing and zoning regulations regarding the sale of hemp products in Huntsville.

This was done to bring our city into accordance with Alabama’s new law regarding the sale of hemp products, which went into effect January 1.

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According to Thomas Nunez, Manager of Planning Services, these new changes will help protect schools, neighborhoods and churches that are already established, as well as giving extra clarity to retailers and consumers.

Here’s what’s changing

According to Thomas Nunez, Manager of Planning Services, these new changes will help protect schools, neighborhoods and churches that are already established, as well as giving extra clarity to retailers and consumers.

The city council is implementing two new changes: they are creating a hemp business license category and introducing zoning requirements for hemp sales.

Stand-alone hemp stores are now a business category and they will be subject to most regulations that package liqour stores deal with in terms of where their store can be located. These include:

• Limited to specific commercial and industrial zones
• Certain distance away from schools, churches and neighborhoods
• Follow spacing requirements regarding other hemp retailers
• Meet frontage requirements on major roads in certain districts

As for the zoning requirements, hemp products sold within grocery stores will abide by the same regulations for selling beer or wine, and pharmacies will continue to abide by the regulations they already follow.

Perhaps the most important takeaway is that the city is not creating new zones where these businesses will be able to operate—it’s more like the city is allowing these retailers to exist in locations where similar products are already sold.

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