CLEARLAKE >> The Clearlake Planning Commission approved the Commercial Cannabis Ordinance and amended the current Marijuana Dispensary Ordinance to comply with the new state law. The ordinances now go for debate by the City Council.
The two ordinances create commercial cannabis business zones, allow up to 12 cannabis business permits, orders businesses to create development agreements and sets permit violations at up to $1,000 per day.
The ordinance was put together by a marijuana Ad Hoc committee and the city’s staff.
City Manager Greg Folsom said the areas in which cannabis businesses can be held are in a few of the commercial zones and the Resource protection (RP) areas. This leaves the largest areas of use in the North East and West parts of the city.
“If a city chooses to ban commercial cultivation, personal outdoor cultivation and retail sales you will not be eligible for grant funds,” Folsom said.
The state will be putting together a 15 percent tax, with some of the funds collected going back to cities that incorporate these factors in their ordinance. The money will be in the form of grants to help fund education, law enforcement and other designated uses.
Folsom added that there are already three dispensaries in the city and as long as they do not move locations or expand they will be grandfathered in and will not have to apply for a new permit. Dispensaries coming into the city will have to notify any of their neighbors within 100 feet of their location.
At this time it is unknown how much revenue the city will receive by having this ordinance in place. Folsom said it would depend on the revenues of the businesses involved and the amount of cultivation that is put into place.
“Each business will have a development agreement which will have a revenue component to the city aside from the regular sells tax,” Folsom said.
Commissioner Richard Bean said he has some issues with the proposed ordinances and thinks 12 permits are too many for the city. He also said there should be a fix limit to the number of plants in a commercial grow.
“I think my concerns, and I have a number of them, are regarding the businesses in general. I don’t know who thought that 12 businesses was an appropriate amount of businesses we wanted to permit in the city. 12 just seems to me, excessive,” Bean said. “I wouldn’t be in favor of 12.”
The committee decided upon 12 permits because there are six types of marijuana businesses that can be installed. The members merely took that number and doubled it.
The committee also pointed out that there is a limited amount of legal places for business owners to grow and limited floor space in those areas. For those reasons there was no need to put a limit on how many plants can be grown.
City staff said that if it is not economically feasible to grow plants in the area, cultivators will refrain from doing so.
Commissioner Carl Webb said the city has been discussing marijuana for some time and many people have been involved and what they approved is something that is reasonable.
“You’re never going to satisfy everybody on this but this is going to be reasonable for most people. Some modifications will have to be made to it as we learn,” Webb said. “I think we’ve done all we can do in coming to an agreement at this time.”
Although crime is often associated with marijuana businesses, Webb said the city already suffers because of the product. So either way crime will continue.
The Clearlake City Council will now look to adopt or deny the ordinances in a future meeting.
