San Carlos may buy gun shop

Imbert & Smithers was forced to remove its firearms merchandise from its site at the start of the year after its federal license to sell firearms and ammunition was revoked, according to the staff report. The business had failed to comply with a city ordinance adopted in 2019 that required firearms dealers to obtain adequate surveillance systems including cameras that took effect in early 2022, the report said.

Staff argues the site is also outside of where firearms dealers are permitted to exist in the city, though, the business disputes that claim because it was permitted to remain a gun store when the 2019 ordinance was adopted, according to the report. Calls to Imbert & Smithers went unanswered and an internet search of the business indicates it’s temporarily closed.

Under the proposed agreement between the city and Imbert & Smithers, the city would pay the business $390,000 in return for it agreeing to abandon attempts to sell firearms at the site, to vacate the premises and to release any potential claims against the city. The city would also take on the $7,300 monthly rent payment and may help another business relocate to the site after being displaced due to housing development.

The council will also consider beginning the process to acquire three parcels, 1800 El Camino Real and 1131-1133 Eaton Ave., with the intent of developing affordable housing on the sites. Purchasing the sites would cost about $13 million, which the city would fund with housing in-lieu fees paid by developers.

In other business, the council may also make a decision on whether to ban biosafety level 4 labs in the city and to allow developers to seek a use permit to build BSL 3 labs. Those levels typically involve research into high-risk and strictly regulated microbes such as yellow fever and West Nile virus for level 3 and Ebola for level 4, according to Consolidated Sterilizer Systems, a biosafety company based in Massachusetts.

No BSL 4 labs currently exist in California with only seven being located in the nation, according to globalbiolabs.org, an interactive online map developed and maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government and King’s College London. A handful of BSL 3 labs can be found throughout the Bay Area but can be difficult to keep track of because the labs are often built for specific research projects and then decommissioned once the project is complete, Carole Johnson, planning director of Good City Company and consultant for the city, has said.

The City Council will meet in the chambers of City Hall at 600 Elm St. at 7 p.m. Monday, June 25. The meeting will be streamed live at www.sancarlosca.iqm2.com, on Comcast Channel 27 and AT&T U-verse Channel 99, and on Zoom. Remote public comments will be received by telephone during the meeting, prior to the close of public comment on an item. *67 (669) 900-9128, Meeting ID: 882 5614 0939.