A lottery system was implemented to resolve the last bit of Municipal Code 5.87 — the fact that collectives are not allowed to operate within 1,000 feet of one another. All other sections of the law officially went into effect on Aug. 29.
Names and addresses of the collectives that will be a part of the lottery have been compiled on the city’s Web site, www.longbeach.gov/finance/business_relations/medical_marijuana.asp.
During the lottery, each collective’s number that is pulled gives that collective preference in regards to the 1,000-feet requirement over any other pulled afterwards.
“So now, Sept. 20 — 3 p.m., City Council chambers — is the day of the lottery,” said Erik Sund, the city’s business relations manager. “We are preparing ourselves. We are going to be ready for it. That is the day we’ll theoretically pull the lottery numbers and implement the next step of the ordinance.”
According to Sund, from 30 to 35 collectives are expected to move forward out of the lottery. After that, the city will have 60 days to complete inspections, public noticing and to conduct final permit hearings.
“They have to pass all of those hurdles before they actually get that permit in hand,” he said.
Previously, Sund had estimated that about 95 collectives existed within Long Beach before Municipal Code 5.87 went into effect. The new law was going to eliminate more than 50% of those collectives due to the restrictions on how close they could be to schools. Under the law, collectives cannot operate within 1,000 feet of any school servicing grades kindergarten through eighth grade and collectives cannot operate within 1,500 feet of high schools.
Before the original June 18 deadline for accepting applications, Sund said he received 54 requests for a permit. That number has since shrunk to 49 — six of which are for separate cultivation sites — so 43 collectives in total.
“Five applications were deemed incomplete, resulting in 49 potential cultivation and collection sites going into the process,” Sund said.
Each request for a permit requires an application fee of between $10,000 and $30,000, depending on how large the collective is.
Only one lottery number was given to collectives that had a separate cultivation site application. If that number is drawn, both the collective and cultivation sites are considered together when applying the 1,000-foot standard, Sund said.
Whether a collective is disqualified before or during the lottery, that collective will not receive its application money back.
“The ordinance was very clear that the application fee was non-refundable,” Sund added.
Sund also said that there should be no fears of any one owner taking advantage of the lottery system, because the ordinance does not allow for the same owner or director to apply for different collectives.
“I can’t apply for multiple locations,” he said. “I can apply for a collective to distribute my marijuana and also a cultivation site on which to grow my marijuana. Referring to the ordinance, it says you can’t be a manager member for a number of different collectives.”
Despite public accusations and protests from a disqualified collective claiming that its money was taken disingenuously and a lawsuit pending from another regarding the school restrictions, Sund said the application period has gone relatively well.
“I think the process is running pretty smoothly,” he said. “I think we’ve been able to handle it.”
Source: Gazette Newspapers
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