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From: sean kali-rai <br />To: Council -Diane Howard; Council -Shelly Masur; Council -Ian Bain; Council -Janet Borgens; Council-Giselle Hale; <br />Council -Diana Reddy; Council -Alicia Aguirre <br />Cc: CLK-Pamela Aguilar; MGR -Melissa Stevenson Diaz; MGR -Alex Khojikian; CD -William Chui; MGR -Leslie Parks <br />Subject: August 24th Agenda Redwood City Council Item 8A - Study session on storefront retail cannabis sales <br />Date: Saturday, August 22, 2020 7:49:50 PM <br />Attachments: Screen Shot 2020-08-22 at 5.03.50 Mona <br />August 22, 2020 <br />Honorable Mayor Howard <br />Honorable Council Members <br />1017 Middlefield Road <br />Redwood City, CA 94063 <br />Honorable Mayor and City Council Members, <br />RE: Study session on storefront retail cannabis sales <br />I would like to thank you for including me in your efforts, which began in 2017 with a <br />tour of two San Jose dispensaries, in exploring cannabis as a legal business worthy <br />of inclusion into the Redwood City (RWC) Community. Since then I have engaged in <br />roundtable discussions with key stakeholders, community meetings, additional tours <br />many conversations with RWC Staff and with many of you. As someone that has <br />interacted with many cities who have undergone a similar process, of integrating the <br />legal industry as the voters intended under Proposition 64, 1 must say that my view <br />after three plus years of interaction has been that the Redwood City process has <br />been positive because it has been thoughtful, community focused, economic <br />development minded and sensitive to business needs. Finally, I would be remiss if I <br />did not thank Melissa Stevenson Diaz, Alex Khojikian, Deputy Chief Gary Kirby, <br />Catherine Ralston, Don Burrus, Leslie Parks, William Chiu, Diana O'Dell and others <br />may have omitted by mistake for their hard work on this multi-year effort and their <br />constant communication especially now during a pandemic and natural disasters. <br />In its report, Staff asks questions and makes recommendations. I agree with the <br />recommendations and ask for modification in question 3 (IP Zoning). For your <br />reference I have cut and pasted the questions and Staffs recommendations from its <br />report and included my detailed comments (in red) regarding each recommendation. <br />hope you will take my thoughts in to consideration when giving Staff further direction <br />in moving forward. <br />Question 1: Should the City permit up to six cannabis retail storefront <br />businesses? Staff recommends allowing up to six storefront cannabis retailers, equal to the current six <br />non -storefront retailers in Redwood City. This should allow for sustainable business operations even as <br />other communities eventually allow storefront sales, while avoiding undue impacts on other retail <br />businesses in the community and avoiding clustering of cannabis retail businesses. - I agree with the staff <br />recommendation that the number of retail storefronts be 6, if not more. In my experience with San Jose, <br />in its first year the retail sales were $89 million - in the 5 years since then the market has almost it has <br />