Is five the magic number?
The city of Santa Barbara Ordinance Committee has long struggled with the issue of how many medical marijuana dispensaries Santa Barbara needs — or wants — and where they should be located.
The City Council directed the committee to consider a maximum of five locations throughout the city, with protection for substance abuse recovery facilities in addition to schools and parks.
The Ordinance Committee will meet at noon Tuesday in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 735 Anacapa St., followed by a City Council meeting at 2 p.m.
Public comment — and lots of it — has played a large role in the issue of dispensaries, which is why the process to whittle down allowable locations and a citywide cap has taken months and could take hours longer. At the last meeting, the consensus was to eliminate the Mesa area and include the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital area as allowable locations.
The committee also has to discuss the much larger — and murkier — issue regarding the legality of dispensaries vs. collectives.
State law, including Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420, allows the distribution of medical marijuana to qualified patients by primary caregivers, but even recent court cases and the attorney general’s guidelines leave the legality of storefront dispensaries in question.
At 1 p.m. Tuesday, the Finance Committee will discuss increased loan funding for Transition House’s affordable housing project, which includes constructing new units and renovating existing units on the property.
The committee will meet in the David Gebhard Public Meeting Room at 630 Garden St.
The City Council will discuss contracts for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act road maintenance and road overlay construction projects.
Source: NoozHawk
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