“It’s very unusual for the Coastal Commission to not approve this,” said City Manager John Pietig, adding that the commission has supported ordinances prohibiting commercial marijuana dispensaries in other cities.
In a 6-5 vote on Jan. 12, the Coastal Commission denied the city’s request to make changes to Laguna’s coastal plan, which included prohibiting commercial outlets for legalized cannabis throughout the city.
Commissioner Ross Mirkarimi of San Francisco, which has at least 15 legal marijuana stores, according to an internet check, led the discussion. He warned against potential legal entanglements should the Coastal Commission support a city’s decision to either prohibit or approve marijuana dispensaries.
“It implicates us in an issue that really is not pertinent to the Coastal Act,” Mirkarimi said in a later interview, suggesting that cities are e‹ ectively seeking “higher validation” for their actions. “ at’s a little disconcerting to me.”
Peter Douglas, the commission’s executive director, agreed that marijuana shops are of no concern to the Coastal Commission other than to recognize local government’s restrictions on land use.
Coastal Commission sta‹ had recommended approval of Laguna’s request.
Douglas said the commission approved similar requests from three other California cities, though he did not identify them and a follow-up query went unanswered.
Laguna Beach sought Coastal Commission approval because the city’s business district falls within the coastal zone regulated by the commission’s land-use rules. But receiving commission approval is merely a technicality, said Pietig.
The city will try to enact the ban under city code that is not subject to the local coastal program or Coastal Commission approval, Pietig said. In the meantime, “The city doesn’t need to issue a coastal development
permit to prohibit use,” he said, and the ban will remain in effect.
Laguna argued that nearby cities fulfill the needs of potential customers for legal marijuana. “The city of Lake Forest, which is adjacent to our city, does allow medical marijuana dispensaries,” Ann Larson, a city planner, told the commission.
“Although we may not have outlets right in our city limits, there definitely are dispensaries within very close proximity to Laguna Beach.”
“We’re not proposing to eliminate people’s abilities to operate under the law,” she said. “We just don’t want to have storefronts.”
But passing the literal buck to another community raised the ire of other commissioners. Commissioner Mark Stone of Santa Cruz said, “each community up and down the coast of California, in fact throughout California, needs to address the issue not by closing the door but by appropriate regulations.”
The commission directed Laguna Beach city staff to rework and resubmit the request.
Commissioner Markarimi said, “the Coastal Act never forecasted or envisioned that we would be having this discussion in the 1970s when the Coastal Act and the commission were birthed.”
Source: Laguna Beach Independent
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