The grand jury, which issued its report last month, recommended that the city adopt “cost-neutral” zoning and land-use ordinances as a way to effectively license, regulate and inspect dispensaries. The cost-neutral approach provides that the city couldn’t charge dispensaries more than its costs to regulate them.
In a letter to Judge Kevin A. Enright, city officials argued that they have “not fully analyzed the way such an ordinance would affect” Imperial Beach, and added that no local city has successfully regulated dispensaries through land-use or zoning laws.
The City Council last week joined two other South County cities in unanimously voting to extend a moratorium on dispensaries while further studying the issue.
The 1996 voter-approved Proposition 215, which permitted the dispensing of medical marijuana, has Imperial Beach and other San Diego County cities grappling with banning or managing cooperatives. Two weeks ago, San Diego joined nine other counties in the state in regulating dispensaries. The county now allows the sale of medical marijuana with limitations.
According to the grand jury report, four cities — El Cajon, Escondido, San Marcos and Vista — ban marijuana dispensaries. Five — Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City, Oceanside and Santee — have passed moratoriums.
Imperial Beach appears to be the first city to respond to the grand jury report. National City voted last week to extend its moratorium for one year. Chula Vista extended its moratorium for a year last month.
Imperial Beach City Manager Gary Brown said that in extending the moratorium, the council directed city staff to draft an ordinance allowing dispensaries — albeit one “toward the more restrictive end of the spectrum.”
“We’ll be coming back in August with a timeline,” Brown said. “We’ll come back with ideas for the ordinance, and it will be up to the council to decide.”
A handful of people at last week’s council meeting spoke in favor of allowing dispensaries.
Local business owner Tracey Rivera told the council that after developing allergies to painkillers for chronic pain caused by a car accident 20 years ago, her only option was medical marijuana. She has been using it for about six months and urged the council to come up with a solution to allow cooperatives.
“One hundred percent it has changed my life,” Rivera said.
Imperial Beach is not required to implement any of the grand jury’s recommendations, but all public agencies named in the report must respond to it within 90 days or, if more time is needed, within six months.
City officials note that two significant developments are expected during that time. The first is a decision in an Anaheim lawsuit involving local governments’ land-use authority over dispensaries. The second is a measure on the November ballot asking voters to decide whether marijuana should be legalized.
The city said any ordinance regulating dispensaries may require Coastal Commission and voter approval, and that reviewing the outcomes of the opinion and initiative would help create “a rational policy on medical marijuana regulation.”
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
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