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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week the planning commissions for the city of Clearlake and the county of Lake will separately discuss proposed ordinances to govern medical marijuana dispensaries within their respective jurisdictions.
The first of the hearings will be in Clearlake on Tuesday at 6 p.m., when the Clearlake Planning Commission holds a public hearing at a special meeting in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
Currently, three dispensaries are operating in the city, having been grandfathered in under a moratorium on new dispensaries that city officials said will run out later this year.
Interim City Administrator Steve Albright and his staff have crafted a draft ordinance that proposes to grant no more than three dispensary licenses to facilities of no more than 1,200 square feet.
It requires that dispensary entrances be clearly visible from public rights of way. An earlier version of the ordinance required they not be located within 1,000 feet of a “youth-oriented facility” – elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, public park and “any establishment that advertises in a manner that identifies the establishment as catering to or providing services primarily intended for minors, or; where the individuals who regularly patronize, congregate or assemble are predominantly minors, including licensed daycare or preschool facilities.” However a revised version of the ordinance reduced that number to 600 feet.
The facilities will only dispense to qualified patients whose status they have confirmed, and may possess no more than 5 pounds of dried marijuana. The draft ordinance originally required that dispensaries have no more than 50 immature plants on site at all times, but that number was removed and there is no limit on the number of young plants as long as they are no more than 18 inches tall.
Annual third-party audits of the dispensaries also will be required.
The dispensaries also will be limited to maximum business hours of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. An earlier provision to require closures on state-observed legal holidays was removed.
Those wanting to operate dispensaries must apply and submit information including a California Department of Justice background resulting from a fingerprint submission and a written plan of how the facility will be operated.
Once a dispensary license application is filed, the police chief shall conduct a background check on the applicant and identified managers, supervisors, employees and volunteers. Within 60 days of that investigation's completion, the application will go before the city council for consideration.
An earlier version of the ordinance prohibited felony convictions or misdemeanor convictions involving moral turpitude for any applicant, agent, employee or manager. A revised version reduces that requirement to no felony convictions within 10 years, removing the misdemeanor convictions.
In considering the application, the council will consider a number of factors, including whether the facility will operate in conformity with the Compassionate Use Act, the Medical Marijuana Program, the ordinance and city code. Also up for consideration will be whether the dispensary location has significant crime issues and if there have been numerous calls for service in the area.
The proposed Clearlake ordinance can be viewed at Clearlake City Hall during normal office hours, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
County ordinance would restrict facilities to certain zoning districts
The Lake County Planning Commission will take up the county's proposed ordinance during its meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 28, in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The county, which also has a moratorium on new dispensaries, has close to a dozen of them that have been allowed to remain in operation under a grandfathering rule.
Those facilities currently operating will have to apply for a permit within 120 days of the county ordinance passing. The current dispensaries will be given processing priority.
The proposed county ordinance requires that dispensaries be located in C3, the service commercial district; the commercial/manufacturing zoning district, M1; or M2, which is heavy industrial; and would limit the number of dispensaries to nine.
The dispensaries cannot be located within 1,000 feet of another dispensary or a school, or 500 feet from a park with playground equipment, drug or alcohol rehabilitation facility, day care or other youth-oriented facility, and not within 100 feet of a residential zoning district.
Like the city, the county ordinance would require background checks of applicants, prevent licensees from having felony or certain misdemeanor convictions, and require submission of plans for operation.
Permit holders also would be required to enter into a “compliance monitoring inspection agreement” with the Lake County Sheriff's Office for annual compliance monitoring at the permit holder's expense.
Under those inspections, the dispensaries will have to provide the sheriff's office with financial records; supply source locations, their legal status and the names of the growers; proof of not-for-profit status; and a current registry of employees.
The proposed county ordinance restricts dispensaries from having more than 15 pounds of processed marijuana on the premises at any time, and they can't have more than one and a half pounds of concentrated cannabis on the premises.
Dispensaries won't be allowed to be co-located with businesses selling alcohol, can't publicly display product or drug paraphernalia, and must try to make sure that the marijuana they distribute doesn't contain harmful pesticide levels.
The county's proposed operating hours for dispensaries are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with required security measures including cameras, alarms and outdoor lighting.
The document also proposes to prohibit operating a dispensary or a home delivery service from any location other than a permitted dispensary.
The ordinance can be obtained from the Community Development Department at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
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