The Colusa City Council last week referred setting a possible cap on cannabis businesses within city limits back to the Planning Commission.
Much like a ball, the discussion to limit cannabis – particularly retail establishments – has bounced between the advisory group and the governing body since 2021, when a majority of the City Council reversed a previously-held position that marijuana “dispensaries” are nuisances and are inconsistent with the city’s goal to provide and maintain a family-oriented and safe community.
A number of citizens, including former Mayor John Rogers, have called for city officials to limit and better regulate all cannabis businesses after the city embraced an industry now marred by lofty expectations and unkept promises.
“We were promised we would just have grow facilities and no dispensaries. Those were the first promises,” Rogers said, while giving public comment at the Jan. 2 meeting. “The second promise was that if it had an odor, we would shut ‘em down. I just heard from the city manager tonight that shutting a company down in California is impossible, (yet) he has made that statement and the City Council has made that statement many times. ‘If there is an odor, we will shut them down.’ Those were all promises made to us – the citizens of Colusa.”
Despite the City Council referring the cannabis ordinance back to the Planning Commission last year to “overhaul,” the relatively-new Planning Commission has been floundering without “proper direction,” officials said.
City Manager Jesse Cain and Project Manager Sadie Ash insisted at the first hearing on Oct. 28 that the Planning Commission would have no say in cannabis matters not pertaining to zoning, including giving recommendations to the City Council on how to measure and/or control odors – or how many facilities should be allowed to operate.
“They were asking for stuff that we decide on,” said Denise Conrado, at last week’s council meeting, who made the same claim that the Planning Commission should not be called upon to develop restrictive language in the ordinance.
Mayor Greg Ponciano disagreed, and the belief that the Planning Commission is only limited to its primary purview was dispelled by City Attorney Ryan Jones, who participated in the meeting via telephone.
“The Planning Commission (by law) has to review zoning code changes,” Jones said. “This would be one that would not be a requirement of them but one that would have some added value by getting it vetted through them.”
The Planning Commission’s new direction is to “get into the weeds” of the city’s entire cannabis ordinance as well as make whatever recommendations they want about possible limits, and how to measure and enforce odor, among other changes.
“I would like them to look through the entire ordinance and bring back recommendations as they see fit,” Ponciano said.
The Planning Commission was also invited to look at ordinances from other jurisdictions to see what might fit for Colusa.
City staff presented a packet of information to the council last week containing a number of suggestions already, including setting a specific window during the year for the city to accept permit applications.
The packet has been posted to the city’s website and has been forwarded to the Planning Commission to incorporate into their discussion.
The ordinance overhaul is expected to take several months before coming back to the City Council for final review and approval.
City officials are currently leaning toward the possibility of approving just one retail establishment at the start to gauge results before allowing others to come in.
“If there have been no problems with it, then we can consider another,” Conrado said. “I think that is a good way to go about it. We are saying there will be one, and if it is successful, then there may be two – or there may not.”
Cain said the council must start with clear language in the ordinance, and if the Planning Commission can deliver a document the city can live with, then the council would likely approve it.
The City Council, at the same meeting, appointed Jean Pierre “JP” Cativiela to fill Ryan Codorniz’ unexpired term on the Planning Commission.
Cativiela served on the commission previously from 2002 to 2007, and said he is committed to properly and conscientiously carrying out what he views as the two major responsibilities of a planning commissioner: long-term community planning and administration/adjudication of existing ordinances related to planning and building.
The City Council selected Codorniz, who was elected to the council in November, to serve as liaison to the Planning Commission, which he previously served as chairman. ■