Kenai City Council members Wednesday unanimously approved changes aimed at expanding how the city notifies residents of a commercial marijuana establishment opening in their area.

Legislation passed during the council’s Wednesday meeting says that the city must notify at least 30 property owners around the proposed site of a new commercial marijuana establishment. Existing city code says the city only needs to notify property owners within a 500 foot periphery of the proposed site.

The same ordinance newly prohibits limited marijuana cultivation facilities in Kenai’s residential zoning districts. Currently, limited cultivation facilities are permitted with a conditional use permit in the city’s rural residential, suburban residential and urban residential districts.

Ordinance sponsors James Baisden and Alex Douthit wrote in a June 13 memo to council members that prohibiting limited marijuana cultivation facilities in residential zoning districts will “preserve and protect” the intent of those districts, and ensure consistency with sections of city code that doesn’t allow commercial marijuana businesses to operate out of someone’s home.

“Residents have expressed concerns with the proximity of commercial marijuana cultivation facilities near residential neighborhoods and not receiving notices of proposed commercial marijuana cultivation facilities nearby their residence,” Douthit and Baisden wrote.

Baisden said during Wednesday’s meeting that additional noticing would be valuable because, once a potential establishment makes it through Kenai’s Planning and Zoning Commission, the city council is limited in how it can act. The time for people to share their thoughts about a specific land issue is during those planning and zoning meetings, he said.

“We can’t really do a whole lot once it’s been through planning zoning,” Baisden said. “The goal was to try to get more individual property owners notified. So what’s going to happen is that … if there’s only eight or 10 people that can be notified, it will expand out until we get at least 30 people notified.”

Douthit agreed. Public input may not prevent a marijuana establishment from opening altogether, he said, but better noticing may empower city residents to make their opinions known early in the process.

“We’re hoping that this will get more people’s opinions, more involvement on this sort of called hot topic issue, because it does kind of ruffle feathers sometimes with certain people,” Douthit said. “Being able to reach out and make sure everybody has their due diligence to be able to have a comment on it is what we’re trying to (try for).”

Wednesday’s city council meeting can be streamed on the City of Kenai’s YouTube channel.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.