Costa Mesa Approved Another Cannabis Shop After Overhauling Local Laws
After several weeks of adjusting cannabis laws in Costa Mesa, city officials approved a new cannabis shop while anticipating more changes. Costa Mesa City Council has approved a cannabis shop in the city following changes to local zoning and code enforcement laws. The council voted 5-2 to approve a new cannabis retail store, with Council members Andrea Marr and Don Harper dissenting. The new law includes a cap on storefronts and a 1,000-foot separation between youth centers and cannabis shops. The newly approved shop will have to have a security guard during its hours of operation and delivery hours. Concerns about badge fees have been raised by cannabis shop operators, but a staff report found that these delays could be due to criminal record dispositions. Some residents were not in favor of the shop on Newport Boulevard, raising concerns it could negatively impact the community.
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Costa Mesa City Council members authorized another cannabis shop to open in the city after a series of changes to local zoning and code enforcement laws surrounding the retailers.
Yet after months of discussion, officials still grappled with how to best regulate the cannabis shops at their May 7 meeting when they also enacted a new ordinance that puts a cap on storefronts to 35 and increases separation between youth centers and cannabis shops to 1,000 feet.
Under the new city laws, the newly approved cannabis shop is required to have a security guard during hours of operation and delivery hours.
The council voted 5-2 to approve a new cannabis retail store with Council members Andrea Marr and Don Harper dissenting.
“I’m a little concerned about the notion that cannabis is a panacea for all streets, all developments, all buildings that seem to be crumbling,” Marr said, receiving a small applause from the audience in the chamber.
Other Orange County cities that have legal shops use their cannabis taxes to help fund community services like after school programs and libraries – on top of using a portion of it to pay for enforcement of cannabis laws.
Santa Ana officials have a dedicated cannabis tax fund that pays for a host of youth services like 10 new courts at parks, along with library programs and remodels.
[Read: A Look at What Cannabis Taxes Fund in Orange County]
In Costa Mesa, badge fees have been a consistent concern raised by cannabis shop operators.
Gameros asked staff if it was possible to cut the fees required for background checks for staff during a meeting on March 19.
City council members voted 4-3 last week to cut the badge fees from $631 to $306 with Councilmembers Arlis Reynolds, Andrea Marr and Don Harper voting against it.
The reduced fees would cut the revenue the city gets from badge fees from $300,000 to $150,000, according to a staff report.
Concerned cannabis operators said waiting for the badges causes holdups with their staffing needs.
However, a staff report showed that “Clearances were sent to Costa Mesa Police Department for 57% of applicants within 24 hours, and 87% of clearances were sent within two weeks.”
The report also says hold ups in clearing an employee could be due to “criminal record dispositions.”
During public comments, some residents were not in favor of the shop on Newport Boulevard, raising concerns it could negatively impact the community, despite landscaping modification plans.
“If you’re concerned about youth using cannabis in Costa Mesa, you should embrace the legal market, you should embrace measure Q. You should embrace businesses like this because before measure Q there were 40 trap shops selling unregulated products to minors,” Mayor John Stephens said during the May 7 city council meeting.
Council members also asked staff for options requiring the word “dispensary” on signage.
Mike Hannegan, an operating partner for Secret Garden, spoke at several meetings citing that his business often gets confused for a hotel and a neighboring dispensary, Nectar, gets mistaken for a juice bar.
“A dispensary sign on a cannabis storefront provides valuable information to customers and enhances public safety by clearly indicating it’s a legal and regulated store,” Hannegan said at the May 7 meeting.
In April, Costa Mesa Council members struck a portion of the overhauled ordinance that would’ve required all financial interest holders to have a business license.
“If they have financially interested parties that we just follow what the state guidelines are and don’t increase something on our own. It seems like this happened without anybody’s knowledge from what I’m hearing,” Councilman Loren Gameros said.
Some, like Jim Fitzpatrick, a consultant for cannabis operators, argued that the proposed requirement was added in without ever being presented in staff reports.
“It’s unnecessary. It’s unique to Costa Mesa, it wasn’t discussed, you didn’t have an explanation for why you voted on it,” said Fitzpatrick, who held a planning commissioner role until he resigned in 2012 amidst a conflict of interest lawsuit.
Themen: Social Issues, Cannabis, Governance-ESG