Atwater took a step toward adopting three new ordinances on Monday related to marijuana, loosening its restrictions on the plant and paving the way to eventually allow for two dispensaries in the city.
The ordinances related to personal growing for medical users, commercial zoning and the dispensaries, which could deliver to customers, come as the city is working on ways to improve the financial outlooks in the struggling town.
Atwater has a more than $2 million general fund deficit and other unfunded liabilities. Most of the public employees have also been furloughed on Fridays since 2012.
The city has been working towards allowing certain types of marijuana businesses, like cultivation, manufacturing and testing, but the vote this week was the first to allow dispensaries. Merced is the only other city in the county that has taken similar steps.
Merced will allow four dispensaries, which are likely about six months from opening, according to Merced city staffers.
Cities would be better off allowing dispensaries without a cap, which would allow the free market to control the number of retail weed stores, according to Steve Stapleton, a Sacramento-based lawyer who works with cannabis clients.
“The moment you begin picking and choosing, the losers are going to be unhappy,” he said. “And these are people who can afford law firms to sue.”
Many communities are starting to loosen their restrictions on cannabis sales, especially once they note the number of dispensaries from a neighboring county that makes deliveries, according to Douglas White, Atwater’s city attorney. Having local dispensaries allows Atwater new funds to help police any “bad actors,” he said.
The zoning ordinance uses the state standard for cannabis-based businesses, which is a 600-foot buffer from schools and residential neighborhoods, according to city staffers. The City Council could wave the rules in individual circumstances.
“We’re going to treat this basically like a liquor store when we’re talking about dispensaries,” Councilmember Paul Creighton said. “You wouldn’t put a liquor store next to a school or in a residential neighborhood.”
The city of Atwater expects to begin to take applications from potential business owners later this week, according to city staffers.
Credit: mercedsunstar.com
