It was the first hearing of the ordinance to push out the shops since La Puente first allowed them to open late last year. Instead, the commission voted 4-1 to take a vote on the ordinance at its next meeting.
"A lot of information was presented tonight and we wanted to consider it," said Planning Commissioner Gil Duarte.
At the meeting, an attorney representing three dispensaries submitted written rebuttals to a city report on the ordinance.
Chairman Charles Klinakis, who voted against the postponement, but said reading the rebuttals wouldn't have changed his mind.
Duarte said the commission would take up the vote at its June 1 meeting.
Nearly 100 people filled City Hall for the meeting, many of them owners and supporters of the dispensaries holding signs such as: "Don't discriminate because I medicate." Some spoke of their illnesses, from kidney failure to depression, and how medical marijuana has helped.
Tom Noice, who co-owns Today's Holistic Collective at 1359 Hacienda Blvd., said the dispensaries help spark the city's economy through jobs and sales tax. But no vote wasn't a victory yet, he said.
"I thought that the opposition to their new ordinance was presented strongly by the people and attorneys," he said after the meeting. "What these guys want to do now, who knows."
Any action by the commission would have to be approved by the City Council, which prompted the proposed ordinance nearly two months ago.
The City Council directed its staff and attorneys to draft an ordinance banning the shops at a Feb. 23 meeting attended by parents and teachers lamenting the dangers of the drug.
At least seven dispensaries are open in La Puente, according to an April 22 city report.
Two others have business licenses but aren't yet operating, the report said.
The proposed ordinance changes the city's codes to prohibit any medical marijuana cooperatives or collectives. No permits or licenses will be issued either, according to the proposed ordinance.
Shops will be given a deadline to close by Feb. 2, 2011.
The dispensaries can apply for an extension if they can prove the Feb. 2 deadline will cause "extreme economic hardship" or they can't meet it based on how much they've invested.
The commission will review the extension applications based on a handful of financial and public safety and health considerations, according to the proposed ordinance.
Ellin Davtyan, the commission's attorney, said the extension would last as long as the commission deemed it.
Franchezca Macias, who works for the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, spoke in favor of the ban. Though she understood some people's pain, medical marijuana can still harm children because the dispensaries are too close to schools, she said.
If they are banned, the city will have a legal battle on its hands.
"But we have to fight," she said.
Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune
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