Cities chart path for pot use

Redwood City officials unanimously approved a phased approach to allowing commercial marijuana uses, initially banning most of them except for deliveries and considering allowing delivery-only retail and storefront retail as early as January of 2019. San Carlos officials adopted a ban on retail marijuana stores but opted to allow commercial marijuana cultivation, manufacturing, testing and distribution in the city’s industrial zones as long as operators receive permits and follow operational standards. The cities are closing in on city pot rules as Jan. 1, the date when a large portion of the state law take effect, draws near.

Phased approach

Councilman Jeff Gee joined other Redwood City councilmembers in voicing support for a phased approach to increasing the number of commercial uses allowed in the city, acknowledging there is much to be learned about the effects of increased marijuana use.

“I think the phased approach is the right way because it is all brand new,” he said. “This is an industry that is changing fairly quickly if not on a weekly basis.”

Beginning Jan. 2, the city is expected to ban most commercial uses except for deliveries as well as personal cultivation of marijuana plants outdoors. Between January and November of 2018, city staff will require those making deliveries into the city to obtain business licenses and, by 2019, the city could allow cannabis deliveries from warehouses or facilities in Redwood City. The last phase of the plan is expected to prompt review of the possibility of storefront retail, which could begin in June 2019 or concurrently with delivery-only retail businesses.

The proposed plan also includes a timeline by which staff would investigate restrictions city officials could place on where the businesses could be located and prepare an excise tax ballot measure for marijuana sales for the November 2018 election. Together with a regulatory fee for cannabis businesses, a business license tax and standard sales tax, staff estimated the tax could generate up to $287,000 annually.

Though city officials are expected to revisit the tax measure among other aspects of the plan’s second and third phases in the first few months of 2018, some councilmembers expressed interest in exploring how the city could generate revenue by allowing delivery-only retailers to operate in the city before 2019 through development agreements that could charge them fees to mitigate possible impacts.

Elena Barahona, coordinator of the Redwood City and North Fair Oaks alcohol and other drug prevention partnership, thanked the council for taking a measured approach to allowing marijuana in the city in light of community concerns about the potential impact on youth health. She urged councilmembers to consider expanding the 600-foot radius around day cares and schools, where the state law bans pot businesses, to 1,000 feet.

Several councilmembers voiced support for increasing the radius around schools and day care facilities and exploring how businesses could be limited to specific zones. Vice Mayor Ian Bain also expressed interest in understanding how emerging cannabis businesses, such as research laboratories, could be allowed in the city through zoning measures.

“I would rather be known as a city that’s doing cutting-edge research on cannabis than a city you go to to get cannabis,” he said.

San Carlos

San Carlos officials voted 4-1 to approve an ordinance banning retail stores and detailing a process by which operators of marijuana businesses go through background checks and a public hearing with a zoning administrator to obtain the required permits. Depending on the zone where a business is to be located, operators may also have to obtain a minor use permit. The city is also expected to require business owners to observe operational standards, which could include installation of security cameras and surveillance systems and use specific quantities of interior and exterior lighting, among other requirements, aimed at preserving the health and safety of customers and employees.

After discussing the challenges associated with how a ban on deliveries could be enforced, city officials opted to allow them as long as they originate outside the city. According to a video of the meeting Monday, Greg Rothaus, captain of the San Carlos Bureau of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, said he wasn’t entirely sure how his team could enforce a ban on deliveries in the city, especially since the city would have to allow vehicles with marijuana deliveries destined for other cities to pass through San Carlos on public right-of-ways.

“I don’t know how you pick those cars out,” he said, of the vehicles destined for San Carlos locations. “It’s going to be very tough.”

Councilman Mark Olbert voted against the ordinance because he felt allowing deliveries would open the city up to any negative effects of increased marijuana use councilmembers were previously concerned about with regard to retail businesses.

“Whatever those are we’re going to have those and not have any kind of income offset to help deal with the issues associated with that,” he said.

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