City of Redmond to Vote on Marijuana Rules in March

On Feb. 25, the Redmond City Council held a public hearing on a proposal to allow marijuana dispensaries within city limits. Following the hearing, the Council decided to postpone its vote on amending city code until its next meeting in March.

In November, Redmond residents voted in favor of allowing marijuana dispensaries within the City of Redmond — something currently prohibited within city code. The advisory measure, a non-binding recommendation to the Council, passed with about 53% of the votes on Election Day.

Measure 9-177 gauged voters’ interest in amending city code, setting the slate for the city to make a decision on whether to amend its code. In November, voters also passed a conditional measure, allowing the city to impose a 3% tax on the sale of marijuana items by retailers within city limits, given that the city enacts code changes.

Prior to the election, Mayor Ed Fitch signaled that the Council would likely pass the code amendments if the majority of residents showed support for the initiative.

During the public hearing, residents shared their support or opposition to code changes allowing retail marijuana sales within the city.

Tobias Colvin, a former city councilor, was the first to speak at the hearing and urged the council to listen to voters.

“I know some of you have strong personal opinions about this, one way or the other, but I would say the will of the people is more important than any of our personal opinions, especially on council,” Colvin said at the meeting. “The will of the people said to move it forward, so we should move it forward.”

Eric Lea, a Redmond school board member, stated his opposition to proposed code amendments, stating that Redmond should work to minimize youth access to marijuana, keeping it out of schools and public spaces.

Others supported it, pointing to the benefits to the community. JoAnne Eisler, who operates a small business in downtown Redmond, said she supported dispensaries in Redmond. While she’s not a user of cannabis, she said at the meeting, she supports it simply for the tax dollars.

“I feel like the people that are going to be buying cannabis are not deterred by driving to Bend. So, it’s already here in the community. Those are tax dollars that we’re losing every year, and I’m just here to implore you to please listen to the voice of your voters,” Eisler said.

In future meetings, the Redmond City Council plans to vote on codifying the 3% tax into Redmond city code, creating time, place and manner regulations for dispensaries and, finally, implementing code amendments formally allowing dispensaries.

“We want to implement the will of the electorate, but we want to do it in a manner that respects the 46% of the people who actually voted against it,” said Fitch at the meeting. “By limiting the time, place and manner, so that it’s a small imprint on the community, I think we can accomplish both access and revenue that was approved by the voters, and also make sure that it doesn’t have a deleterious effect on the community.”

This article appears in The Source Weekly March 6, 2025.