Last week, the council decided not to vote on a proposal by three council members to add additional restrictions to the city's new marijuana law. Instead, council members decided that they first should have a closed session with the city attorney this week to discuss the potential legal ramifications of altering the ordinance.
Those possible legal effects don't stem from the $14,700 in permit fees paid by each of the 32 Long Beach collectives that are getting close to approval. Any collectives affected by changes to the law would be refunded the fees, city officials say.
However, collective operators and their attorneys say that the city would be on the hook for potentially millions of dollars in other costs that the marijuana distributors incurred to comply with the existing ordinance. Many of the collectives have signed leases and have had to make improvements to their buildings, such as beefing up security.
Collectives have promised legal action if the council changes the ordinance at this point in the process.
It took the council months of work before finally settling on the medical marijuana regulations in March, and then months more to put all of the city's collectives through an arduous permitting process.
The law, as it now stands, includes prohibitions against collectives operating near schools, in residential areas or within 1,000 feet of one another. Collectives can't buy marijuana from outside of Long Beach, but instead must either grow it on-site or at a separate cultivation location within the city limits.
Now, council members Gary DeLong, Patrick O'Donnell and Gerrie Schipske say that after hearing from concerned constituents and comparing Long Beach's law with those of other cities, they want to add new rules.
The proposed rules include allowing marijuana cultivation only in industrial areas; prohibiting collectives from operating within 1,000 feet of parks, libraries and child-care centers; allowing only 18 collectives citywide and two per council district; and requiring shorter collective operating hours.
The council will meet in closed session at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the legal issues and then will have its regular meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, when members will vote on whether to change the law.
The vote is item No. 30 on the meeting agenda and could very well be moved to the end of the meeting, as it was last Tuesday. Add to that a crowd of marijuana advocates and residents who support tougher restrictions that are expected to speak at the meeting, and the council may not take a vote until late.
Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram
Posts
