Owner asks Bellefontaine council to reconsider dispensary moratorium, cites jobs and host-community revenue

Brian Wingfield, an owner of the Ohio Cannabis Company, told the Bellefontaine City Council during the Communications from Citizens portion of its meeting that he has made an offer on a local property and urged the council to reconsider its moratorium on adult-use cannabis dispensaries.

"Bellefontaine is definitely one of those fits," Wingfield said, describing the city as a site where "my mom or someone's grandma could in the winter at 6 o'clock at night feel safe to go in and get their medicine." He said his company has three dispensaries in central Ohio and won three new licenses in the most recent round.

Wingfield told council the typical host-community tax structure under the new state law includes a 10% local tax, of which he said the host community receives about 36% ("in other words you're going to get three and a half percent of the revenue"), and that a local dispensary could produce roughly 16 to 24 jobs. He estimated buildout and acquisition costs could be "just under $2 million" for a location in this market and said smaller estimates he had seen for gross revenue varied widely; he suggested a conservative model would be in the low millions.

Council members pressed Wingfield on details. When asked to explain a social-equity license, Wingfield said that designation targets applicants who had been affected by prior marijuana policies (for example, those with certain qualifying arrests), and that the state0s rules are still being worked out by the regulators. Asked whether delivery would still reach the city if Bellefontaine declined to host a dispensary, Wingfield said the law included delivery and that delivery could occur even without a local host — a point he raised as a reason to consider hosting a licensed operation so tax dollars would flow to the city.

Council did not change the moratorium at the meeting. Instead, the issue was assigned to the Rules Committee for further consideration; councilmembers suggested Wingfield meet with Councilmember James and attend committee meetings to provide details.

The Rules Committee will consider the moratorium and any regulatory clarifications from the state before council takes further action. No vote to lift the moratorium was scheduled at the meeting.