The board initially passed the 45-day urgency ordinance in September to try to stop a rush of dispensary openings taking place as county staff was trying to craft guidelines to deal with the establishments under the current zoning ordinance, as Lake County News has reported.
Community Development Director Rick Coel, whose interpretation of the county ordinance is that dispensaries and collectives currently aren't allowed, said staff was asking for the board to extend the moratorium.
The extension will automatically be for 10 and a half months, but Coel said staff doesn't need quite that much time to finish a zoning amendment draft, which he expects to have to the board in 45 days.
Lower Lake attorney Ron Green and retired District 1 Supervisor Ed Robey had submitted a letter to the board stating that they supported extending the moratorium but requesting that that the county delete the moratorium's “irrelevant and inaccurate” third paragraph.
That paragraph states, in part, that “the Lake County Zoning Ordinance does not presently allow and has thus far never approved the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries although several dispensaries have been established and are presently in operation in the unincorporated areas of the County ...”
Alternately, Green and Robey recommended keeping the paragraph but rewriting it so that it reads “the Lake County Zoning Ordinance does not presently explicitly allow … ” They suggested that the zoning ordinance may in fact allow for dispensaries in the C1 and C2 commercial zones, and compared medical marijuana sales to pharmaceutical sales.
Supervisor Rob Brown said Green and Robey had made the same request at the previous meeting during which the moratorium had been discussed, and he said he disagreed with it.
Brown said Coel has had his hands full with dispensaries that have continued to pop up even with the moratorium in place, and he was concerned that the wording was a way to accommodate dispensaries that are operating illegally.
One of the lingering questions for the county has been how to decide when a dispensary actually opened. Supervisor Jeff Smith suggested looking at when they began collecting tax to submit to the state Board of Equalization.
Coel said he's looked at a variety of ways to track openings, as he wasn't comfortable basing it on fictitious business name filings, which usually are made well before a business opens.
He confirmed that dispensaries have continued to open regardless of the county's temporary moratorium being in place. Despite being warned by county officials, another dispensary opened in Nice on Monday, he said.
Brown asked how many dispensaries currently were operating within the county. Coel said he believed there were seven before the moratorium went into effect, and now he believes it's between 10 and 12. Brown said he thought it was as high as 13.
“We have 17 gas stations in the county, so before long we'll have more dispensaries than gas stations,” said Brown.
He contended that the dispensaries are opening not to serve people who are ill but to make a profit on people with legitimate needs.
Green, who was present for the meeting, told the board that he doesn't think looking at the Board of Equalization records works in trying to figure out when the dispensaries opened.
He suggested there were as many as a dozen dispensaries already opened by the time the board approved the temporary moratorium on Sept. 15.
Green suggested Tuesday that between 15 and 20 were currently operating.
He said that at the Sept. 15 meeting Brown put him on the spot as to the zoning ordinance's wording and what it might allow.
“I've looked a little closer at it,” said Green, which is why he asked for the paragraph deletion, because he interpreted the language as possibly allowing the establishments.
Brown said the discussion at that point was only about the moratorium, and he suggested Green was attempting to grandfather something into the language, which Brown said wasn't in anyone's best interests until the zoning ordinance was done.
Green said he was concerned that the ordinance's wording already was opening the door to potential problems, and added that the courts have held that dispensaries are legal if they're not for profit collectives or cooperatives.
Board Chair Denise Rushing said the discussion was starting to stray from the temporary ordinance itself.
“This is precisely why we need additional time to dial in an ordinance,” said Coel.
He emphasized his interpretation that dispensaries currently aren't covered in the zoning ordinance.
Coel also suggested there were flaws in Green's suggestion that dispensaries might be allowed in C1 and C2 zoning areas through comparisons between dispensaries and pharmacies and liquor stores. The C1 zoning, Coel explained, doesn't allow for liquor stores.
“For me this is a timeout,” said Supervisor Anthony Farrington.
He said Green's argument about dispensaries possibly already being allowed is on record. “This is going to be an issue that needs clarification.”
Farrington said the zoning laws will need to clearly delineate where dispensaries fit. “That's a dialog that I think we as a body need to have sooner rather than later,” he said, adding that they need to move forward quickly on the cultivation aspects.
County Counsel Anita Grant suggested the board not change the proposed moratorium's language at that time.
Community member Gary Williamson, the only person besides Green to give public comment during the brief hearing, asked what the county is doing about the dispensaries that have opened in violation of the moratorium. Officials noted that Community Development is handling those situations.
Brown moved to extend the ordinance, which the board approved in a 4-0 vote. Supervisor Jim Comstock was absent from Tuesday's meeting.
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