In a 3-2 vote, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors has turned down a proposal to reduce zoning requirements for commercial cannabis operations in unincorporated areas.

The argument is that too many of those operations in one are could negatively impact other businesses in that area.

Current county regulations require at least a 1-thousand foot buffer zone around commercial cannabis businesses.

The new proposal would have cut that down to just a 250-foot buffer zone.

Supervisors were divided but opted to stick with the 1-thousand foot requirement.

Supervisor Manuel Perez and Jeff Hewitt were in favor of cutting the zone to 250 feet, but the other three supervisors had the votes to keep it at 1-thousand feet.

FILE – This May 20, 2019, file photo, shows a marijuana leaf on a plant at cannabis grows in Gardena, Calif. The California Bureau of Cannabis Control is expected to award state funds in June 2020 after original plans to award money this year were delayed. Regulators say California cities and counties must apply by Aug. 30, 2019, to receive a portion of the $10 million in Legislature-established funds.

 

(AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)