How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council started off the new year by finalizing an ordinance to govern commercial marijuana activities in the city.
The half-hour meeting on Tuesday night dealt primarily with the new ordinance and with mayoral appointments on a variety of committees and boards.
Following a brief discussion, the council gave unanimous approval to the second and final reading of the ordinance governing commercial operations for marijuana, or cannabis. The ordinance and its accompanying staff report begin on page 13 of the agenda packet below.
The new rules had been the focus of extensive work by a working group of city staffers and council members as well as the Lakeport Planning Commission, which met numerous times throughout the fall to dig into the specifics of how the city would regulate recreational commercial use, which begins this year under state law.
The council held a lengthy discussion of the ordinance at its Dec. 19 meeting, at which it took comments from community members, the majority of whom had concerns about commercial marijuana activities. The primary request was not to allow storefront operations, especially in the city’s historic downtown.
At the Dec. 19 meeting, the council made several key changes to the proposed ordinance, including limiting cannabis retailer activities to delivery only, removing the restriction that cannabis retailers be limited to the possession of a maximum of 5 pounds of dried cannabis, eliminating the provision limiting the number of cannabis retailers within the city to two, removing the reference limiting storefront cannabis retailers to 1,500 square feet of retail area as all retail activities are now prohibited within the city, removing the reference limiting storefront cannabis retailers to 50 square feet or 10 percent of total retail area (whichever is less) for the display of cannabis paraphernalia and similar items as all retail activities are now prohibited within the city, and prohibiting retail cannabis delivery within the C2 zoning district.
Under the new rules, cannabis retail is now limited to the C3 and Industrial zoning districts only.
During public input Tuesday night, the council heard from retired Lakeport businessman Rick Kemp, who urged them to accept the ordinance.
Citing the billions in marijuana sales estimated to take place across the state, Kemp said the city needed to get in on the resulting sales tax revenue, which he suggested will help fund city improvements.
City Planning Commissioner Michael Green thanked the council for considering the ordinance. “A historic moment is upon us. We've never done this in the city of Lakeport.”
He acknowledged that cannabis has complicated issues of background checks and buffer zones. Pulling licenses for businesses and keeping them will be “crazy hard.”
Green added, “The ultimate goal is to make this a safer community,” and to tackle issues with cannabis consumption.
Councilman Kenny Parlet asked staff about the license renewal process and a provision for submitting an annual report, and if reminders would be sent so businesses don’t get shut down for inadvertently missing a deadline.
Community Development Director Kevin Ingram said staff keeps a master index to help it track of those issues. City Manager Margaret Silveira said it would be like how the city sends out renewal notices for business licenses.
Parlet thanked the staff, planning commission and the working group for all of the effort put into the new rules. “This was not an easy thing.”
Mayor Mireya Turner asked to have added to the “whereas” section of the ordinance a reference to AB 133, which the governor signed into law in September. The bill allows for a single physical location to hold multiple commercial cannabis license types, subject to local ordinances. AB 133 was considered an important fix to the state’s rules, which previously had required different commercial license types to have separate and distinct locations.
Parlet moved to approve the ordinance with Turner’s addition, with Councilman Tim Barnes seconding and the council voting 5-0. The final vote gained the council a round of applause from the small audience in attendance.
In other business, the council approved Turner’s appointments to act as liaisons to certain organizations and to act as council representatives on specific boards and committees. The council members also approved a resolution
The appointments are as follows:
– Lakeport Fire Protection District: Councilman Tim Barnes, liaison; Mayor Mireya Turner, alternate.
– Lake County Chamber of Commerce: Turner, liaison; Councilwoman Stacey Mattina, alternate.
– Lakeport Main Street Association: Councilman George Spurr.
– Lake County/City Area Planning Council (APC): Mattina and Councilman Kenny Parlet; Spurr, alternate.
– County of Lake Solid Waste Management Task Force: Spurr and Turner.
– SB 621 Indian Gaming Funds Committee: Spurr and Barnes.
– Local Agency Formation Commission: Parlet.
– Invasive Species Task Force Committee: Parlet.
– Clean Water Program Committee (formerly TMDL): Parlet.
– Lakeport Unified School District Committee: Mattina and Turner.
– Oversight Board of the Former Lakeport Redevelopment Agency: Mattina; Parlet, alternate.
– Lake County Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Service Authority: Parlet; Spurr, alternate.
– Lake County Airport Land Use Commission: Will appoint if needed.
The council also approved a resolution appointing Turner as voting delegate and Mattina as alternate to represent and vote on behalf of the city at the League of California Cities, Redwood Empire Division Business meetings and represent the city and vote at Division Legislative Committee meetings.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
010218 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd
