Effective immediately, the city of Carmel will allow faster driving on Keystone Parkway and will no longer permit the sale of synthetic marijuana.
On Monday night, the City Council voted to increase the speed limit on Keystone to 50 mph and prohibit the sale of synthetic marijuana, also known as K2 or spice. The respective ordinances passed unanimously.
Before the meeting, the city’s engineering department informed the council that the construction zone speed restrictions applied to Keystone could be lifted. Mayor Jim Brainard signed the ordinance into law immediately after the council’s vote, and street department crews, on standby, were alerted to begin changing the posted speed limit signs.
Brainard also signed into law an ordinance banning the sale of synthetic marijuana, which is legal throughout most of the state. Councilman Ron Carter added the ordinance to the agenda with several co-sponsors after a student of Carmel Clay Schools was recently hospitalized after using the substance. Carter said the owner of the convenience store that sold the substance to the student was asked to stop carrying the product but refused because it was not illegal to do so. Brainard said after the meeting that Carmel police officers were on their way to begin removing the product from such stores.
The council also unanimously voted to override Brainard’s veto of an amendment that prohibits council members from serving on the Carmel Redevelopment Commission. Carter, who is president of the CRC and the only council member currently serving on the panel, recused himself from the vote.