City leaders trudged ahead with crafting a new medical cannabis dispensary ordinance on Tuesday. During the hour and a half lunchtime meeting, in-depth discussions on each subsection prevented progress beyond two pages of the 28 page draft ordinance written by City Attorney Jeffrey Walter.
In the name of expediency, Public Safety Subcommittee members Mike Menesini and Lara DeLaney set up another meeting next Monday, July 12 at 6 p.m. to continue the vetting process.
Similar to recent Public Safety Subcommittee meetings, several potential dispensary operators were in attendance, offering wording advice and anecdotal information. While some audience members took issue with certain aspects of Walter's suggested version, such as placing a cap on the amount of patients allowed to be served each month, there were no objections raised to allowing a Martinez dispensary to open in general.
Menesini, DeLaney and City Manager Phil Vince made it clear that whomever would be licensed to establish a Martinez dispensary would be chosen through a competitive bid process.
Walter launched the meeting by recapping a memo he wrote to the Subcommittee regarding the necessity of amending the City's Zoning Code due to changes between the existing dispensary ordinance and the new one.
When the City Council voted to allow dispensaries to operate within the City limits in 2000, it was based on operators receiving a conditional use permit via the Planning Commission.
The new ordinance abandons the conditional use permit process in favor of a licensing procedure, dispensed through the City Manager's Office.
However, as Walter pointed out, "there will still need to be some provisions spelling out where these MCDs [medical cannabis dispensaries] can be located within the City's limits," because the existing ordinance, expected to be entirely repealed and replaced, specified dispensaries can only be located in commercial zoning districts, and state law mandates that "any amendment to a zoning ordinance that 'removes or modifies any [zoning] regulation theretofore imposed' must be adopted in the same manner prescribed for the adoption of the zoning code in the first place."
At the May 18 Public Safety Subcommittee meeting, Menesini suggested the permitted zones for a MCD be expanded to include 'light industrial,' but not if it complicated the approval process overall.
Walter's responded to this concern on Tuesday by saying "given that doing away with the conditional use permit process as it pertains to MCD's will by itself trigger Planning Commission involvement, it appears that expanding the permitted zones in which MCD's may be located will not have a measurable effect on the time it takes to process the MCD licensing and zoning ordinances."
The Subcommittee heard new input from Janet Weiss, M.D., who introduced herself as a physician who specializes, and is board certified, in public health and preventative medicine, medical and environmental toxicology and pathology. She accompanied Robert Martin, Ph. D. of the Collective Wellness of California, a prospective Martinez dispensary operator.
Weiss urged the Subcommittee to include a "safety-monitoring program that encompasses a formal chain of custody from farm to patient ... the states of Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New Jersey already require this testing in their medical cannabis legislation. California lags behind in this regard — an omission that can be remedied at the local level," Weiss said.
Turning to the draft ordinance itself, the Subcommittee elected to strike a provision restricting the maximum patients served on a monthly basis at 500, as well as the amount of product a dispensary can keep on hand.
A lengthy discussion centered around what kind of security and admission protocols should be required. Menesini argued against a suggested provision that dispensary doors should be locked at all times, as well as a provision insisting the facility's bathrooms remain locked as well.
His stance was based on a fire safety perspective, but others dismissed this, asserting that the entrance and exit doors of other Bay Area dispensaries are equipped with one-way locks.
Despite his concern with fire safety, Menesini wasn't happy with the draft ordinance overly prescribing rules regarding facility management.
"I don't think the ordinance should get into such detail, the people responsible for the business operations are going to implement their own rules," said Menesini.
Next week the Subcommittee will continue with its vetting of the draft ordinance, moving on to physician recommendations as to whether the dispensary should have an evaluating physician onsite and the confidence of patient records.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Martinez News Gazette
Author: Greta Mart
Copyright: 2010 Gibson Publications
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
In the name of expediency, Public Safety Subcommittee members Mike Menesini and Lara DeLaney set up another meeting next Monday, July 12 at 6 p.m. to continue the vetting process.
Similar to recent Public Safety Subcommittee meetings, several potential dispensary operators were in attendance, offering wording advice and anecdotal information. While some audience members took issue with certain aspects of Walter's suggested version, such as placing a cap on the amount of patients allowed to be served each month, there were no objections raised to allowing a Martinez dispensary to open in general.
Menesini, DeLaney and City Manager Phil Vince made it clear that whomever would be licensed to establish a Martinez dispensary would be chosen through a competitive bid process.
Walter launched the meeting by recapping a memo he wrote to the Subcommittee regarding the necessity of amending the City's Zoning Code due to changes between the existing dispensary ordinance and the new one.
When the City Council voted to allow dispensaries to operate within the City limits in 2000, it was based on operators receiving a conditional use permit via the Planning Commission.
The new ordinance abandons the conditional use permit process in favor of a licensing procedure, dispensed through the City Manager's Office.
However, as Walter pointed out, "there will still need to be some provisions spelling out where these MCDs [medical cannabis dispensaries] can be located within the City's limits," because the existing ordinance, expected to be entirely repealed and replaced, specified dispensaries can only be located in commercial zoning districts, and state law mandates that "any amendment to a zoning ordinance that 'removes or modifies any [zoning] regulation theretofore imposed' must be adopted in the same manner prescribed for the adoption of the zoning code in the first place."
At the May 18 Public Safety Subcommittee meeting, Menesini suggested the permitted zones for a MCD be expanded to include 'light industrial,' but not if it complicated the approval process overall.
Walter's responded to this concern on Tuesday by saying "given that doing away with the conditional use permit process as it pertains to MCD's will by itself trigger Planning Commission involvement, it appears that expanding the permitted zones in which MCD's may be located will not have a measurable effect on the time it takes to process the MCD licensing and zoning ordinances."
The Subcommittee heard new input from Janet Weiss, M.D., who introduced herself as a physician who specializes, and is board certified, in public health and preventative medicine, medical and environmental toxicology and pathology. She accompanied Robert Martin, Ph. D. of the Collective Wellness of California, a prospective Martinez dispensary operator.
Weiss urged the Subcommittee to include a "safety-monitoring program that encompasses a formal chain of custody from farm to patient ... the states of Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New Jersey already require this testing in their medical cannabis legislation. California lags behind in this regard — an omission that can be remedied at the local level," Weiss said.
Turning to the draft ordinance itself, the Subcommittee elected to strike a provision restricting the maximum patients served on a monthly basis at 500, as well as the amount of product a dispensary can keep on hand.
A lengthy discussion centered around what kind of security and admission protocols should be required. Menesini argued against a suggested provision that dispensary doors should be locked at all times, as well as a provision insisting the facility's bathrooms remain locked as well.
His stance was based on a fire safety perspective, but others dismissed this, asserting that the entrance and exit doors of other Bay Area dispensaries are equipped with one-way locks.
Despite his concern with fire safety, Menesini wasn't happy with the draft ordinance overly prescribing rules regarding facility management.
"I don't think the ordinance should get into such detail, the people responsible for the business operations are going to implement their own rules," said Menesini.
Next week the Subcommittee will continue with its vetting of the draft ordinance, moving on to physician recommendations as to whether the dispensary should have an evaluating physician onsite and the confidence of patient records.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Martinez News Gazette
Author: Greta Mart
Copyright: 2010 Gibson Publications
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
