California: City Council To Weigh Medical Marijuana Rules

Jacob Redmond

Well-Known Member
The Eureka City Council will consider a proposed process for granting conditional uses permits to medical marijuana businesses at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

In early January, the City Council discussed resurrecting the process that began with the passage of a municipal code in 2010 regulating medical marijuana cultivating, processing and distribution through cooperatives and collectives as well a personal cultivation by qualified patients. A year later, in 2011, the council invited three groups to submit applications for a conditional use permit.

Nothing came of that first step. The city then contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2011 - who wasn't thrilled with the city's proposed process. A moratorium on medical marijuana production/distribution followed and remained in place until November 2013.

At Tuesday's meeting the City Council will consider a multi-step process for granting conditional use permits for the business of medical marijuana. Essentially, upon direction from the City Council, staff will issue a request for qualifications, the city manager will appoint a medical cannabis selection committee to consider any submittals and the committee will make recommendations to the City Council.

The medical cannabis selection committee would include representatives from the Eureka Police Department, Humboldt Bay Fire, the Community Development Department as well as the city's chief building official, local attorneys and individuals familiar with the medical marijuan business, according to the City Council staff report.

At its January meeting the City Council rescinded earlier invitations to apply for the necessary conditional use permits and directed staff to develop a recommendation for reducing the number of allowed medical marijuana facilities within the city limits. Under the 2010 ordinance, four cultivation/processing/distribution facilities and two "stand-alone distribution" facilities are allowed.

The staff report noted, however, that the current ordinance spells out the maximum allowable medical marijuana enterprises. If the City Council chose to reduce the number of allowable medical marijuana businesses specified in the ordinance, a text amendment would be required. That, in turn, would require a public hearing before the city's Planning Commission, an introduction and public hearing before the City Council, adoption at a subsequent meeting and another 30 days before the text amendment because part of the municipal code.

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Full Article: Eureka City Council to weigh medical pot rules
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