The battle goes on...
KEY HURDLE PULLED FOR 11 PROPOSED POT SHOPS
Environmental appeals rejected by San Diego council
Maximum number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in each council district.
SAN DIEGO — The City Council on Tuesday removed a key approval hurdle facing 11 proposed medical marijuana dispensaries that could be among the first legal pot shops to open in the city.
The council rejected environmental appeals filed against each of the dispensaries that marijuana advocates have described as strategic attempts to stymie applicants by further complicating an already turbulent approval process.
Councilman Todd Gloria endorsed that characterization during a two-hour council session focused on the appeals.
“I don’t think it’s about environmental quality or it’s about land use, it seems that other motives are at work here,” Gloria said.
Because four other dispensaries received environmental approvals before such appeals began being filed, the appeals have allowed those four to surge well ahead in the race to become the city’s first legal dispensaries.
Those four dispensaries have reached the final stage of approval, a hearing before the San Diego Planning Commission this winter.
The 11 dispensaries given environmental clearance on Tuesday will be scheduled for approval by City Hearing Officer Kenneth Teasley — one step before a potential Planning Commission hearing — in the order that their environmental exemptions were issued last fall.
The appeals didn’t dispute that the dispensaries are exempt from state environmental rules. They claimed instead that city officials cited the wrong section of the law when asserting the exemption.
Similar appeals have been filed against five additional proposed dispensaries. The council is scheduled to handle those on Feb. 10.
Marijuana opponents used Tuesday’s hearing as an opportunity to reiterate their concerns about dispensaries increasing drug use and making it easier for young people to get highly concentrated edible marijuana and hash oil.
Scott Chipman, leader of San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods, said dispensaries affect the environment around them in ways the city hasn’t studied.
“Pot shops are not the kind of businesses we need in San Diego,” he said. “They attract crime and send the wrong messages to our children. We need to be considering San Diego as a family-friendly tourist destination, not a drug-use tourist destination.”
There’s a sense of urgency among dispensary applicants, because complex regulations approved last winter by the council allow a maximum of four dispensaries per council district.
Of the 38 proposed dispensaries in the approval pipeline, 16 are in District 2, eight are in District 6 and six are in District 8 — creating fierce competition in those areas.
Among the other districts, no dispensaries have been proposed in Districts 5 or District 9, one each has been proposed in Districts 1 and 4, two in District 3 and four in District 7.
In addition to the four-dispensary maximum per district, the rules prohibit a dispensary from opening within 1,000 feet of another dispensary.
That regulation jeopardizes nearly a dozen proposed dispensaries in the Midway District near the Valley View Casino Arena, because one of the four applicants leading the pack is within 1,000 feet of many other applicants — including several that got environmental approvals on Tuesday.
Other proposed dispensaries clearing environmental hurdles on Tuesday include two in the Midway District, two near the international border, one in Mira Mesa and one in Pacific Beach.
For the four leading applicants, one in Otay Mesa will go before the Planning Commission on Jan. 29 and three others — in Clairemont, the Midway District and San Ysidro — have been scheduled for Feb. 10.
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Council orders all medical marijuana dispensaries closed
A medium-size crowd fills most of the seats in City Council Chambers on Tuesday night. Several attendees were awaiting a decision on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in which the council voted 5-2 to shut down all MMDs. Chris Riley-Times-Herald
By John Glidden, Vallejo Times-Herald
Posted: 01/14/15, 6:39 PM PST |
18 Comments
After two years of debate – and almost four hours of discussion Tuesday night – the Vallejo City Council finally made a decision about medical marijuana dispensaries operating within the city of Vallejo.
In a series of four motions, the council first decided in a 5-2 vote to shut down all MMDs in the city – even if they are compiling with the Measure C tax.
In 2011, city voters approved Measure C, which imposes a business license tax rate of 10 percent on the sales of medical marijuana products within the city.
According to a recent city staff report, 11 MMDs were maintaining an active tax certificate out of the 26 known to be operating within the city.
“This is not going to say that we are going to allow them or ban them but close all of them down now, period,” said Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis before the vote on his motion.
“Even if you are going to regulate, we still have to shut them down,” he also said.
Council member Robert McConnell stated that he couldn’t support the motion without more information about the legal ratifications of shutting down all the MMDs.
McConnell and fellow council member Katy Miessner voted against the motion.
Then things became more interesting, as Davis followed up with another motion – to ban all MMDs inside the city, with Davis, Bob Sampayan, Pippin Dew-Costa and Jess Malgapo voting to ban.
Seconds after the vote, Sampayan informed the council that he had “erred in his vote.”
“I can’t let you err in your vote,” Davis said to Sampayan. “I will let you vote again.”
The former vice-mayor was the only one to switch his vote, causing the motion to go down in defeat 4-3, with Robert McConnell, Rozzana Verder-Aliga and Katy Miessner also opposed.
Many in attendance clapped loudly to the defeat of the motion, prompting Davis to address the crowd.
“I know you guys are excited but you know it will help us get through and get home if you guys don’t interrupt with applause,” said Davis as the council voted around midnight.
The council then unanimously approved a motion, proffered by McConnell, for city staff to bring recommendations back to the council on the regulation of MMDs inside city limits. The study session is expected to take place during the second meeting in March.
Davis then offered the final MMD motion of the night – to stop issuing Measure C tax certificates to new applicants and stop renewing certificates to MMDs which hold a valid tax certificate.
“I think that sends a double message,” Davis said about shutting down all MMDs but still renewing tax certificates to MMDs which hold valid Measure C tax certificates.
After the motion was approved 6-1, with McConnell opposed, Davis addressed the crowd: “Now you can clap if you want to.”
Prior to deciding the issue of MMDs in the city, the council heard from several speakers, ranging from citizens opposed to the dispensaries, lawyers who work on behalf of MMDs, to owners of MMDs operating inside the city, to property owners, and local religious figures.
Vallejo City Unified School District Superintendent Ramona Bishop also presented on the number of self-reported marijuana use from seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders within the district.
Bishop said that 83 percent of seventh-graders last year never tried marijuana, with 63 percent of ninth-graders having never tried the drug, and 41 percent of 11th graders who self reported never partaking of the drug.
“When I talk with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, it is the case that they are concerned,” she said. “In many cases, they don’t know where the drugs are coming from; we deal with it at in our high schools on a regular basis.”
Late in public comment, Vallejo resident Jack Davis spoke about his use of medical marijuana.
“I have heart failure, Grave’s disease, diabetes ... I have asthma and six herniated disc in my back and marijuana has saved my life,” Jack Davis said as he addressed the council, leaning on a cane. “I’m just asking for the right to live, as everyone here.”
Davis said that he couldn’t afford other pain medication.
Prior to addressing the MMD issue, the council approved an agreement between the city, the county and the Humane Society of the North Bay for the improvement of animal services inside city limits.
“I just ask you to show the same compassion to me and to others in need as you showed to those poor animals,” he said with his voice cracking with emotion.
According to staff, Measure C did not legalize the zoning of MMDs in the Vallejo Municipal Code and thus, in 2013 the council adopted a moratorium which stated that MMDs are not allowed in any zone of the city and new Measure C tax certificates would not be issued.
The moratorium was extended in April 2014 and was set to expire in April.
KEY HURDLE PULLED FOR 11 PROPOSED POT SHOPS
Environmental appeals rejected by San Diego council
Maximum number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in each council district.
SAN DIEGO — The City Council on Tuesday removed a key approval hurdle facing 11 proposed medical marijuana dispensaries that could be among the first legal pot shops to open in the city.
The council rejected environmental appeals filed against each of the dispensaries that marijuana advocates have described as strategic attempts to stymie applicants by further complicating an already turbulent approval process.
Councilman Todd Gloria endorsed that characterization during a two-hour council session focused on the appeals.
“I don’t think it’s about environmental quality or it’s about land use, it seems that other motives are at work here,” Gloria said.
Because four other dispensaries received environmental approvals before such appeals began being filed, the appeals have allowed those four to surge well ahead in the race to become the city’s first legal dispensaries.
Those four dispensaries have reached the final stage of approval, a hearing before the San Diego Planning Commission this winter.
The 11 dispensaries given environmental clearance on Tuesday will be scheduled for approval by City Hearing Officer Kenneth Teasley — one step before a potential Planning Commission hearing — in the order that their environmental exemptions were issued last fall.
The appeals didn’t dispute that the dispensaries are exempt from state environmental rules. They claimed instead that city officials cited the wrong section of the law when asserting the exemption.
Similar appeals have been filed against five additional proposed dispensaries. The council is scheduled to handle those on Feb. 10.
Marijuana opponents used Tuesday’s hearing as an opportunity to reiterate their concerns about dispensaries increasing drug use and making it easier for young people to get highly concentrated edible marijuana and hash oil.
Scott Chipman, leader of San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods, said dispensaries affect the environment around them in ways the city hasn’t studied.
“Pot shops are not the kind of businesses we need in San Diego,” he said. “They attract crime and send the wrong messages to our children. We need to be considering San Diego as a family-friendly tourist destination, not a drug-use tourist destination.”
There’s a sense of urgency among dispensary applicants, because complex regulations approved last winter by the council allow a maximum of four dispensaries per council district.
Of the 38 proposed dispensaries in the approval pipeline, 16 are in District 2, eight are in District 6 and six are in District 8 — creating fierce competition in those areas.
Among the other districts, no dispensaries have been proposed in Districts 5 or District 9, one each has been proposed in Districts 1 and 4, two in District 3 and four in District 7.
In addition to the four-dispensary maximum per district, the rules prohibit a dispensary from opening within 1,000 feet of another dispensary.
That regulation jeopardizes nearly a dozen proposed dispensaries in the Midway District near the Valley View Casino Arena, because one of the four applicants leading the pack is within 1,000 feet of many other applicants — including several that got environmental approvals on Tuesday.
Other proposed dispensaries clearing environmental hurdles on Tuesday include two in the Midway District, two near the international border, one in Mira Mesa and one in Pacific Beach.
For the four leading applicants, one in Otay Mesa will go before the Planning Commission on Jan. 29 and three others — in Clairemont, the Midway District and San Ysidro — have been scheduled for Feb. 10.
..........................................
Council orders all medical marijuana dispensaries closed
A medium-size crowd fills most of the seats in City Council Chambers on Tuesday night. Several attendees were awaiting a decision on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in which the council voted 5-2 to shut down all MMDs. Chris Riley-Times-Herald
By John Glidden, Vallejo Times-Herald
Posted: 01/14/15, 6:39 PM PST |
18 Comments
After two years of debate – and almost four hours of discussion Tuesday night – the Vallejo City Council finally made a decision about medical marijuana dispensaries operating within the city of Vallejo.
In a series of four motions, the council first decided in a 5-2 vote to shut down all MMDs in the city – even if they are compiling with the Measure C tax.
In 2011, city voters approved Measure C, which imposes a business license tax rate of 10 percent on the sales of medical marijuana products within the city.
According to a recent city staff report, 11 MMDs were maintaining an active tax certificate out of the 26 known to be operating within the city.
“This is not going to say that we are going to allow them or ban them but close all of them down now, period,” said Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis before the vote on his motion.
“Even if you are going to regulate, we still have to shut them down,” he also said.
Council member Robert McConnell stated that he couldn’t support the motion without more information about the legal ratifications of shutting down all the MMDs.
McConnell and fellow council member Katy Miessner voted against the motion.
Then things became more interesting, as Davis followed up with another motion – to ban all MMDs inside the city, with Davis, Bob Sampayan, Pippin Dew-Costa and Jess Malgapo voting to ban.
Seconds after the vote, Sampayan informed the council that he had “erred in his vote.”
“I can’t let you err in your vote,” Davis said to Sampayan. “I will let you vote again.”
The former vice-mayor was the only one to switch his vote, causing the motion to go down in defeat 4-3, with Robert McConnell, Rozzana Verder-Aliga and Katy Miessner also opposed.
Many in attendance clapped loudly to the defeat of the motion, prompting Davis to address the crowd.
“I know you guys are excited but you know it will help us get through and get home if you guys don’t interrupt with applause,” said Davis as the council voted around midnight.
The council then unanimously approved a motion, proffered by McConnell, for city staff to bring recommendations back to the council on the regulation of MMDs inside city limits. The study session is expected to take place during the second meeting in March.
Davis then offered the final MMD motion of the night – to stop issuing Measure C tax certificates to new applicants and stop renewing certificates to MMDs which hold a valid tax certificate.
“I think that sends a double message,” Davis said about shutting down all MMDs but still renewing tax certificates to MMDs which hold valid Measure C tax certificates.
After the motion was approved 6-1, with McConnell opposed, Davis addressed the crowd: “Now you can clap if you want to.”
Prior to deciding the issue of MMDs in the city, the council heard from several speakers, ranging from citizens opposed to the dispensaries, lawyers who work on behalf of MMDs, to owners of MMDs operating inside the city, to property owners, and local religious figures.
Vallejo City Unified School District Superintendent Ramona Bishop also presented on the number of self-reported marijuana use from seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders within the district.
Bishop said that 83 percent of seventh-graders last year never tried marijuana, with 63 percent of ninth-graders having never tried the drug, and 41 percent of 11th graders who self reported never partaking of the drug.
“When I talk with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, it is the case that they are concerned,” she said. “In many cases, they don’t know where the drugs are coming from; we deal with it at in our high schools on a regular basis.”
Late in public comment, Vallejo resident Jack Davis spoke about his use of medical marijuana.
“I have heart failure, Grave’s disease, diabetes ... I have asthma and six herniated disc in my back and marijuana has saved my life,” Jack Davis said as he addressed the council, leaning on a cane. “I’m just asking for the right to live, as everyone here.”
Davis said that he couldn’t afford other pain medication.
Prior to addressing the MMD issue, the council approved an agreement between the city, the county and the Humane Society of the North Bay for the improvement of animal services inside city limits.
“I just ask you to show the same compassion to me and to others in need as you showed to those poor animals,” he said with his voice cracking with emotion.
According to staff, Measure C did not legalize the zoning of MMDs in the Vallejo Municipal Code and thus, in 2013 the council adopted a moratorium which stated that MMDs are not allowed in any zone of the city and new Measure C tax certificates would not be issued.
The moratorium was extended in April 2014 and was set to expire in April.
