AgdaPkt 2011-10-10 - Laserfiche WebLink

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7.A. - Page 9 Staff therefore considers it premature to determine specific zoning regulations for medical marijuana distribution facilities in the context of legal, public safety, and unsettled land use decisions. The regulatory environment for medical marijuana remains dynamic and there is much to learn from the experiences of other jurisdictions. Revisions to codes in other cities, new legislation, case law developments, and other means may lead to improvements in the regulation and operation of these facilities in the future. Thus one alternative available to the City which has been recommended by the Planning Commission is to incorporate a sunset clause. Such a clause will allow for the City to reconsider the ban at a future time, such as two years from now as is currently proposed. At that time, when much of the General Plan zoning work is complete, improvements evident with respect to the legal framework and public safety aspects could lead the City to reconsider this ban. Alternately, if such improvements do not occur, the sunset clause can be removed and the ban can be left in place unless and until the City seeks to reconsider the matter. Staff is not recommending the sunset clause because the City has the discretion to take up this matter at any time in the future when deemed appropriate. The sunset clause timeline may interfere with other priorities that cannot be anticipated at this time. The initiation of a zoning amendment to ban medical marijuana facilities is both the Planning Commission's and staff's recommendation at this time (although the Planning Commission and staff are making different recommendations with respect to the sunset clause) for the reasons cited above. However, the Planning Commission's discussion and direction to include a sunset clause indicates that they seek to revisit this topic in the future within a specified timeframe. Also, staff notes that upon adoption of the moratorium in 2009, staff initially sought to develop code to permit these facilities by developing specific regulatory controls pursuant to Police Department requirements, land use compatibility measures, and possibly an overall limitation on the total number of facilities that could be allowed in the City. Staff also considered options for establishing a special administrative process for reviewing applications for medical marijuana facilities. The balance of this report outlines a number of considerations that Planning staff researched and suggests concepts that may be relevant to any future consideration of allowing these facilities from the land use and administration perspective. Land Use Compatibility: Land use compatibility measures included in other jurisdictions' codes are implemented primarily through distancing requirements between medical marijuana distribution facilities and "sensitive uses" such as schools, residential development, parks, etc. The facilities are also regulated to specific zoning or land use areas such as light industrial and some commercial zones. Residential areas are avoided. Codes also contain substantial design controls such as limitations on signage, visibility into the facility, and other critical security measures. The focus of this discussion is on distancing requirements and determining appropriate land use designations for both allowing and disallowing the facilities.