Suffolk is considering where recreational marijuana businesses could open as Virginia prepares for sales to begin in 2027. The city's planning work focuses on how retail shops, cultivation facilities and processing operations would fit into existing zoning districts, with different types of businesses potentially permitted in different areas.
Virginia will handle industry licensing and regulation, while Suffolk addresses land use. In a recent presentation to the Planning Commission, assistant planning director Meg Pittenger said the city cannot ban marijuana uses outright. It can, however, use its zoning authority to decide where those operations belong within its existing land-use framework.
Residential areas are excluded from consideration. Planning staff is examining agricultural, business, commercial and other appropriate districts to determine which could accommodate particular cannabis operations. Pittenger told commissioners that placing businesses appropriately also requires keeping the city's approach within legal limits to avoid ending up in court.
Separation requirements could further limit the properties available to some businesses. Under the framework Pittenger outlined, marijuana retailers and microbusinesses generally would need to be at least 1,000 feet from schools, day care centers and hospitals. The same distance would generally apply between those businesses and other marijuana retailers or microbusinesses.
Planners have not yet settled how to calculate those distances. Pittenger used Sentara Obici Hospital and Godwin Boulevard to illustrate why the measurement method matters. Starting at the hospital building could yield a different result from starting at the hospital's property boundary, potentially changing whether nearby sites would qualify for a marijuana retail operation.
Zen Leaf, which already runs a medical marijuana dispensary in Suffolk and has locations in five other Hampton Roads cities, is looking forward to the market's expansion. Rachael Pavlik, the company's regional director of operations for Virginia and Maryland, said, “I think recreational sales introduce us into playing a bigger part in our community.”
The Suffolk dispensary currently admits medical cannabis patients who have a doctor's certification. Pavlik said adult-use sales would open access to adults over 21 with valid identification. Any move by Zen Leaf into recreational sales would still require the appropriate approval from the state, regardless of the city's zoning decisions.
Pavlik said working with local governments on locations has already been part of Zen Leaf's experience with medical dispensaries, with choices taking account of the business, the city and the community. Suffolk planning staff continues to assess where each category of cannabis business could be allowed. Staff has said its proposals will come back before the Planning Commission and City Council as preparations for the state's adult-use framework continue.
