Permits to sell cannabis still a rigorous process
An emergency ordinance amending Title 11 “business regulations” of the Culver City municipal code to add a new “commercial cannabis business” chapter, and to remove cannabis from the “unlawful businesses prohibited” section, passed with a 4-1 vote at Mondays City Council meeting.
The one dissenting vote was Council Member Goran Eriksson, who has been firmly against the introduction of retail cannabis outlets in Culver City since the process began.
Similarly, an ordinance to amend municipal code, title 17, zoning section 17.700.01, to allow for permits to be distributed for residential and commercial cannabis cultivation, passed with a 4-1 vote. Again, Eriksson was the dissenting vote.
Council Member Jim Clarke introduced a last-minute item in order to, in his own words, leverage the council before casting his “yay” vote for the emergency ordinance. Clarke requested that items be placed on the agenda for discussion in 2018, including restricting cannabis outlets to locations that have their own parking such as a strip mall, ensuring that outlets are in the middle of blocks rather than on street corners, and ensuring that two outlets won’t be immediately next to each other, on the same block.
While Vice Mayor Thomas Small and Council Member Meghan Sahli-Wells said they were open to the discussion (though they felt uncomfortable with the way, in Sahli-Wells’ words, “the vote was being held hostage”), Mayor Jeffrey Cooper was less amiable, stating that what Clarke was suggesting would stigmatize what is now a legal business in the state of California.
Still, Clarke asked for three nodding heads before proceeding with his “yay” vote, and he got them from Small, Sahli-Wells, and himself.
During the period for public comment, Elizabeth Ostermann of Loki Lotion, said that she has been working to break the stigma about cannabis, and that the council should consider small, local businesses before voting.
Fox Hills resident Yumi Mandt-Rauch expressed concerns that her neighborhood would be forced to contend with retail cannabis locations, and Inglewood residents shopping there. Sahli-Wells and Cooper again calmed those fears.
Pamela Epstein of Greenwise Consulting reminded the council and audience members that, however the Monday vote went, businesses would still have to go through a rigorous vetting process before being granted a permit.
At the end of it all, both votes passed, and retail cannabis is on its way to Culver City.
