Cooler heads prevailed at the Colusa City Council meeting on Tuesday despite no one changing their position on whether retail cannabis stores should be allowed in the downtown.
The council voted 3-1 to amend its cannabis ordinance the same as they did two weeks ago, opening the door for retail marijuana stores on property zoned M1 light industrial and general commercial, particularly East Clay Street, Main Street, and Market Street. The Pirelli Cable property, while not specifically carved out of the ordinance as the City Council originally intended, would be largely prohibited, despite being light industriall, because of its proximity to a school, and Fremont Street would be prohibited as mixed-use, officials said.
Councilman Greg Ponciano was the lone dissent. Councilman Josh Hill, who abstained previously, was absent.
As with the city’s licensed pot growers, the City Council will have the ultimate say on where retail shops would actually be located when they approve or disapprove permits.
“The ordinance change does not mean that a dispensary goes on Market Street or on Main Street or on East Clay,” Councilman Daniel Vaca said. “It can still end up going, if it happens, on (Colusa Industrial Properties).”
Vaca said that after spending a year trying to gauge public opinion and after multiple attempts to survey the public was conducted, he found that support for marijuana was about even with the opposition.
“It’s a 50/50 mix,” said Vaca, who ultimately voted in favor of simply giving people options and providing business opportunities within the city.
While city officials agreed that public opinion was mixed about marijuan dispensaries, they did acknowledge that businesses and property owners on Market Street lean highly toward opposing dispensaries in the downtown, which would be taken into consideration at the time of an application.
“At the end of the day, it is up to the city council on the location and whether or not they would want a dispensary,” said City Manager Jesse Cain. “Right now, the current ordinance doesn’t have that option in there.”
But despite walking back their favor of allowing for pot stores just about “anywhere,” which was their sentiment at the May 3 meeting, the majority of the council was unwavering in that retail stores somewhere in town would provide a benefit to people who want to purchase marijuana – but do not have sufficient knowledge to make informed decisions to purchase online.
“I don’t use cannabis, but if I did, I would want to be able to go into a safe place and ask someone who knows what they are talking about what kind of dosage or what kind of product would be good to use,” said Councilwoman Denise Conrado. “It’s legal and it’s safe.”
Just as Vaca, Conrado, and Mayor Tom Reishe were unwavering in their opinion to allow retail shops, Ponciano was also unwavering in his opposition.
Ponciano, who believes the ordinance itself is flawed, said the city council should wait until the entire ordinance addresses all the issues, particularly language relating to allowances for outdoor marijuiana grows and other language not compliant with state law.
“What I see before me is an inadequate and incomplete ordinance,” Ponciano said. “If we are going to draft an ordinance, then draft an ordinance, and if we want to include the cannabis discussion on it, then we can include a cannabis discussion. I’m just asking to vote no for now.”
City officials, however, said the ordinance would be reviewed and amended as needed, possibly annually, and that the only consideration on the agenda to be addressed Tuesday was essentially the zoning allowances for retail stores, but even that would not be a binding factor since retail shops would be subject to individual approval.
Officials maintained that the ordinance should be addressed in parts, especially as additional rules and regulations need to be developed.
“We still have a lot more work to do,” Reishe said. “It’s a working piece.”
The city currently requires all marijuana businesses in Colusa pay 3 percent of their total gross receipts, but even those agreements are subject to change, officials said.
The City Council also said they may order audits for the first time, which were in the agreements they made with the growers.
Brad Lamoureux, Greenleaf’s chief operating officer and owner, said the cannabis industry as a whole is extremely challenged by the thriving black market industry, making the need greater for the city and cannabis businesses to iron out what is in the best interest for everyone.
“Working together is a much more appropriate response to getting this industry to flourish – and everybody wins,” Lamoureux said. ■