LAKEPORT, Calif. – A proposal to once again allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the county's unincorporated areas will go to the Board of Supervisors during a special evening meeting set for next Tuesday, July 1.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The discussion on the proposed dispensaries ordinance is timed to begin at 6:15 p.m.
The county's dispensaries were ordered to be shut down in 2011 after all of them were served with notices of violation under the county's zoning ordinance, which holds that uses that are not expressly allowed are not legal.
Earlier in 2011 the Board of Supervisors had passed a dispensaries ordinance that was challenged by a referendum, with the board later rescinding the ordinance and going forward with the dispensary closures.
Last December, when the Board of Supervisors approved county ordinance No. 2997 regarding medical marijuana cultivation – which went on to become Measure N on the June 3 ballot due to a referendum – the board also directed Community Development Director Rick Coel to bring forward the new ordinance, as Lake County News has reported.
Coel's report to the board regarding the new proposed regulations explains that dispensaries could provide a fourth option for access to medicinal marijuana “by qualifying patients that will not be able to cultivate outdoors under the new cultivation ordinance. Despite still being able to cultivate indoors, joining a collective or designating a primary caregiver to cultivate in a different location, dispensaries could provide a more convenient solution.”
He said that in drafting the ordinance a key concern has been the limited ability of local governments to “permit” an activity that is not legal under federal law.
“Staff from County Counsel and Community Development researched dispensary ordinances throughout the state and found that most jurisdictions are banning dispensaries,” he said in his report.
Of the dispensary ordinances county staff found, two-thirds of them were not located within the jurisdiction’s zoning code. Instead, Coel said the regulations were added to either their business license/permit regulations or health and safety regulations.
That is the route Coel is proposing, noting that the 17-page draft ordinance is premised upon an annual business permit and would be included in the business license and permits section of the county's code.
The proposed guidelines include operational requirements, areas where the dispensaries can be located, and setback provisions for a 600-foot distance from schools, improved parks and residences, according to Coel's report.
Staff is asking for the board's determination of exactly where the dispensaries should be allowed.
“We recommend that a minimum of 3, but no more than 5 dispensaries be allowed, and that only one dispensary per approved mapped area be allowed,” Coel wrote in his report. “For comparison, Alameda County only allows thee dispensaries.”
Areas proposed for possible dispensary locations include a portion of downtown Upper Lake along Main Street; two blocks along E. Highway 20, between Fourth and Sixth avenues in Lucerne; two areas on Foothill Boulevard at Oakgrove Avenue, and an area along Highway 20 across from Keys Boulevard in Clearlake Oaks; locations on Main and Wilson streets in Lower Lake; parcels on E. Highway 29, Lake and Bush streets in Middletown; two locations on Highway 175 near Schwartz Road on Cobb; along Soda Bay Road in the area of Broadmoor Way in the Clear Lake Riviera; and on Highway 29 near S. Main Street in south Lakeport.
Annual compliance monitoring shall be conducted by the Lake County Sheriff's Office at the permit holder's expense. The proposed ordinance also requires that dispensaries sell or distribute only marijuana processed in California that has not left the state before arriving at the dispensary.
“Medical marijuana produced in Lake County shall be sourced from sites that are operated consistent with the Lake County Code, with no citations for erosion, stormwater or other violations committed at the cultivation site,” the document states.
The proposed ordinance also prohibits use of medical cannabis on dispensary premises, limits the number of clones on site to 100 and allows no other cultivation at dispensary sites, with no public display of marijuana plants or drug paraphernalia allowed, and no allowance for selling alcoholic beverages at the dispensaries. Juveniles under age 18 also are not allowed on the premises.
“Operators of medical marijuana dispensaries shall make every effort possible to assure that marijuana obtained from their sources does not contain harmful levels of pesticides,” the document states. “Operators shall educate their members on the importance of organic cultivation practices.”
Dispensary operators will be required to test their marijuana for pesticides. Any positive tests for the presence of pesticides bars the drug from being sold to dispensary members. A testing log on the marijuana offered also must be kept at dispensary sites.
There also are requirements for exhaust and air filtration, a limit on exterior signage to 32 square feet and requirements for liability insurance.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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