LakePORT >> After almost amending Article 72 to prohibit all commercial cannabis licenses in an apparent moment of panic before the January 1 cannabis deadline, the Lake County Board of Supervisors instead decided to create an Urgency Ordinance to allow growers to apply for temporary state licensing.
The ordinance will be brought to the Board at their next regular meeting, which falls on December 19.
Lake County Community Development Director Bob Massarelli said as people start applying for licenses from the state to be able to conduct legal marijuana activates, the county will begin to receive calls.
“Article 72 just specifically discusses medical cannabis collective formats. It does not specifically exclude the other types of licenses,” Massarelli said. “You want to make sure your ordinance is very clear on what is allowed and not allowed to the state.”
If the momentary decision to ban commercial cannabis seemed panicked, a recent and unexpected state ruling had something to do with the county’s indecision. The board had been considering a ban on commercial products, but allowing medical Type 1 and 1C licenses through state permit. However, the state issued emergency regulations in November that changed expected restrictions.
Should the urgency ordinance pass as anticipated, temporary licensing will be available. This will allow businesses to operate on a commercial basis for 120 days. The temporary license can only be applied for if the owner has a valid license, permit or other authorization issued by their local jurisdiction.
The Urgency Ordinance can cover some of the license types that are not included in the Article 72 and can be issued starting January 1 when the state’s recreational use law goes into effect. This will allow the county additonal time to hold workshops leading to a more deliberate ordinance.
Counties and cities have struggled to define local regulations in part because the state’s rulings changed (or threatened to change) repeatedly as more studies and information came in. Analysts expect state law to remain fluid ,even after it goes into effect.
The county has been trying to keep up before establishing a concrete ordinance to ensure compliance with California law.
District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele said the reason it has taken so long for the county because they were waiting to hear about the state regulations. Now that it is coming clear on the state level, the county needs to organize its stakeholders and get everything situated.
“What we are really doing is getting all of our staff that has to live with this in their different areas of responsibility tuned in now that we have the state finally coming forward, which we expected months ago. It’s not as though we were not ready to go and develop this, we were waiting on the state,” Steele said.
Future licensing parameters remain a question.
“The Urgency Ordinance would describe what we have and the folks that are okay under our present situation and have a permit in place that those are the folks going forward are legal under the new cannabis ordinance including the commercial side,” Steele said.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said the county is looking to try and make plans and move forward with the ordinance and follow the state regulations as they get established and are not trying to take any steps backward in this process.
“These things (regulations) can be discussed along the way and we are establishing a timeline and not kicking the can down the road,” Huchingson said. “I’ve heard it repeatedly that this is like starting over. There is no intention here to start over.”
Although the Urgency Ordinance will create more time and help those looking to start up next year a more permanent one will need to be in place.
