OVERLAY ZONES EYED TO CURB CANNABIS DISPENSARY PROBLEMS

COMMUNITY CENTER - The stage was set for a rough meeting last week at
the Community Center, as the City Council held a long-overdue study
session on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Almost miraculously, that didn't happen. Though official decisions
aren't taken at study sessions, the council, which has been divided
regarding commercial cannabis, nonetheless achieved a rough consensus
on dispensary issues. By meeting's end, councilmembers, staff,
clinicians and members of the public were chatting amicably amid a
palpable sense of progress, if not complete resolution.

The council recently upheld a decision by the Planning Commission to
disallow cultivation in the Central Business District, shattering the
business model for that area's three dispensaries. City officials
have viewed the dispensaries with increasing skepticism as their
neighborhood and environmental impacts become more evident, along
with suspicion that some may be purchasing from illegal, for-profit
grow houses and encouraging their proliferation.

For their part, the dispensaries have been dismayed by what they
believe is a lack of understanding by the City as to their beneficial
community role and tax contributions. With big dollars, established
businesses and jobs at stake, City attempts to scale back cultivation
have been viewed as unfair and uninformed after-the-fact meddling.

But apart from a few tense moments, the council, dispensary officials
and community members managed to define terms, resolve some points of
dispute, clarify goals and advance the discussion.

The magic bullet? An overlay zone, allowing limited on-site
cultivation but also carrying impact-reducing restrictions the
dispensaries must observe.

As informally consensed at the meetings, staff will research
possibilities for establishing an overlay zone to allow the on-site
cultivation the dispensaries want while building in requirements
intended to ameliorate the various impacts and issues that have cropped up.

Overdue issues

The study session represented the first general public discussion of
the overall issue of downtown cannabis dispensaries, a niche industry
which has replaced auto dealers in the buildings that once housed
them in the Central Business District.

City leaders and some community members have viewed the phenomenon
with some concern, since it has come into being more or less outside
the planning process.

The recent Planco nixation of downtown cannabis growing highlighted
the potential for conflict between the General Plan and a burgeoning
new industry which it doesn't address. "The train has already left
the station," said Mayor Mark Wheetley a few weeks ago.

Issues that have come to light as the old Isackson Ford and P.C.
Sacchi Chevrolet dealerships have become cannabis centers include
appearance and signage, environmental impacts - energy use, solid
waste and recycling, impacts on neighborhoods and appearance and
signage. Abatement measures informally discussed have included a
limit on clients, a moratorium on new clinics and compliance monitoring.

The meeting began with a viewing of a 60 Minutes video segment which
profiled the out-of-control cannabis clinic scene in the Bay Area.
There, the Morley Safer piece alleged, the medical marijuana scene
has become a "hall of mirrors," with Prop 215's original intent - to
allow compassionate use of cannabis - hijacked by druggies,
profiteers and outright criminals.

Mayor Mark Wheetley started right out by recommending a moratorium on
new dispensary applications, which he called a "time-out." City
Attorney Nancy Diamond said such suspensions generally apply for 45 days.

The relatively informal meeting included frequent ciizen comment,
with the relationship between cannabis dispensaries and grow houses
variously compared, contrasted and sometimes confused.

Citizen Bob Ornelas, along with some others, approved of dispensaries
as a "clean industry" that could serve to ameliorate grow houses,
which he called a "completely different animal." But citizen Wilma
Johnston said four dispensaries are "more than enough in a city of
23,000 when school's insession." She called for a moratorium on
dispensaries and grow houses alike. "We want back our neighborhoods," she said.

Eric Heimstadt, who operates the Humboldt Medical Supply (HMS)
dispensary, suggested that the clinics only be able to sell what they
grow on site, and that there be residency requirements.

Councilmember Alex Stillman liked those suggestions. She'd been told
by Tony Turner of The Humboldt Cooperative (THC) that his business
serves nearly 6,000 patients, and that THC buys cannabis of unknown
origin from independent vendors. "I just think that has to stop,"
Stillman said.

She also expressed concern about the lack of solid waste recycling at
the dispensaries. THC dumps its used soil and green waste in a
dumpster, and its used cultivation water goes directly down the drain.

Councilmember Michael Machi noted complaints from citizens about
dispensary customers intruding on their property, vandalism and other abuses.

Citizen Wade DeLashmutt again pleaded for a ban on residential grow
houses, and said dispensaries could be contained just as pattern
restaurants are limited.

Community Development Director Larry Oetker said that all the
identified impacts could be addressed by implementation of an overlay
zone. That and a possible moratorium on new dispensary applications
will be developed by staff for council and Planco consideration.

Wheetley thanked Heimstadt and his staff for their detailed input to
the council, calling HMS the "gold bar standard" among Arcata cannabis clinics.