The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider adopting an urgency ordinance banning non medical marijuana operations to give the board time to develop permanent plans regulating licensing, permitting and tax and fee schedules related to recreational use of marijuana.
Californian voters passed Proposition 64 in November legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and the state is expected to begin issuing licenses to establish businesses such as cannabis clubs and pot shops by the deadline on Jan. 1, 2018.
“The purpose of the urgency ordinance is to protect public health, safety and welfare while the county considers comprehensive regulations, along with appropriate environmental review, for marijuana activities in the unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County,” Glenn Russell, county Planning and Development director, wrote in a staff report.
According to Russell’s report, unregulated nonmedical marijuana activity, specifically cultivation and sale, could result in the displacement of existing agricultural production activities, impacts to natural resources and create land use conflicts.
“Enacting this urgency ordinance will temporarily prohibit all approvals of, and activities related to, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, while providing the county time to analyze these issues and create and adopt an appropriate regulatory framework,” Russell wrote.
The ordinance would temporarily prohibit cultivation, distribution, transportation, storage, manufacturing and processing of recreational marijuana, while also banning the selling of cannabis and cannabis products for recreational use and the growth of industrial hemp.
Personal indoor cultivation of six plants still would be permitted during the term of the ordinance, according to Russell’s staff report.
The county currently has an ordinance on the books banning medical marijuana dispensaries as well as medical marijuana cultivation, with limited exceptions, in the unincorporated areas.
The supervisors will need a four-fifths vote for the urgency ordinance to pass. If it does, it would be in effect for 45 days, expiring May 19. By law, any extensions of the ordinance can’t exceed a total of two years, according to Russell’s staff report.
The board also is going to consider adopting a separate ordinance that would establish a limited-term, nonpersonal cannabis cultivation and related operations registry program for the unincorporated areas. The registry, if adopted, wouldn’t be intended for those individuals cultivating marijuana for personal medical use in compliance with county code.
credit:syvnews.com
