OCEAN VIEW, Del. -- More marijuana restrictions are making their way down the Delaware shoreline since it became legal in April.
During a council meeting in July, the Ocean View town council introduced an ordinance to indefinitely pause any marijuana sales, growth and other related business within town limits.
Councilman Stephen Cobb said the halt would give officials time to gather feedback on the issue from the community and law enforcement.
"It's really representative of the people," says Cobb. "We'll listen to what the people feel and then we'll make an informed decision. Public health and safety are our primary concerns and that's our job."
Many neighbors are divided in their feelings. Marty Sullivan says he'd rather not have marijuana sold or grown in town.
"To introduce that here, I would be against it," Sullivan. "There's other places that it can be and quite frankly, the law hasn't caught up with the initiative yet and I'm very concerned about that."
However, neighbor and mother Sarah Thompson disagrees. She argues that the town is missing out on revenue and being inconsiderate of a wide range of people that will benefit from cannabis use.
"You're really doing a disservice to the people who need it and the State of Delaware for financial purposes," says Thompson. "I think we have bigger fish to fry around here, a little bit of marijuana never hurt anyone."
Cobb says the restrictions will be discussed again at the next town council meeting in September. There will also be two public hearings held before the town votes to permanently prohibit or allow marijuana-related business.
On August 17th, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to endorse the regulations.
On October 10th, Ocean View's town council passed the regulations.
