LICENSE SOUGHT FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOP IN PLYMOUTH

The Plymouth City Council on Thursday will discuss and possibly act on
zoning and regulation law regarding the operation of medicinal
marijuana distribution centers in city limits, as requested by
applicants for such a shop there.

Steven R. Alvidrez, a legal analyst from Sacramento, is acting with
power of attorney for Mike Koll, of Plymouth, in Koll's application
for a business license to operate a medicinal cannabis dispensary in
Plymouth. The application was submitted last Thursday and Alvidrez
said he requested the council talk about new regulations to enable
their licensing.

According to a copy of the application, Koll is seeking to open a
medical marijuana distribution center at 18594 Highway 49 in Plymouth.

Both Alvidrez and Koll said Monday that this would be their first try
at operating a legal marijuana business. Koll plans to own and operate
the business.

"Our primary objective is to dispense the pot - marijuana," said
Alvidrez. "It won't be a coffeehouse. Mike wants it to be more
sterile." He said there would be no space for using marijuana at the
center.

"In my opinion, nothing bad could come out of this," Alvidrez said.
"The bottom line is, we need to keep the medicine away from those who
don't have a prescription to use it." He said people now can only buy
marijuana illegally. "Theoretically, it may help reduce crime and
generate tax revenue."

Alvidrez said the 1996 state-wide approval vote on the "Compassionate
Use Act," which legalized medical marijuana, also defined the grower
of the crop as someone a person could designate as their "primary caregiver."

"I don't plan on doing growing or any of that stuff," Koll
said.

"I know there's people that need it in Jackson and Pioneer and
everywhere," he said, of his assessment of the market.

Alvidrez said the law also stipulates that the state attorney general
supply guidelines for operation, while the municipality will address
local law. He said they plan to follow all regulations.

On Thursday, the council will discuss and possibly act on an ordinance
adding to municipal code "operational restrictions on and requiring a
regulatory permit to operate a medical cannabis dispensary within the
city of Plymouth," the agenda states. The ordinance would define such
a dispensary and rezone light industrial and industrial zoning to
include the dispensary and to make it "immediately effective as an
urgency ordinance."

Sphere of influence

Last Thursday, a special joint session of the Plymouth Planning
Commission and the city council redrew the city's "sphere of
influence" (SOI) to reflect the official version but declined to place
additional property, south of town, in that sphere.

The council approved the revision of the city's general plan SOI map
drawn previously by the county Local Agency Formation Commission
(LAFCO), but not yet adopted by the council.

The SOI is a planning tool which gives the city influence outside its
borders on projects proposed for approval by Amador County, said City
Planner Eileen Shaw, of North Fork Associates in Auburn. She also said
the council asked her a year-and-a-half ago to look at "minor
expansion" of the SOI and presented a map showing LAFCO's version of
the SOI, which was approved; and another map, which would have added
six contiguous properties immediately south of the city and adjacent
to the corrected SOI. The failed proposal would have added 131.23 acres.

Several of the property owners appeared and asked the council to not
add their property to the Plymouth SOI, citing among other reasons
that Plymouth could not give them water service even if it wanted to.
Speaking against it were landowners Ronald Matulich, Rene Picard,
Reffie Thomason and Joe Putnam, four of the five property owners who
would have been affected.

Shaw said adding the area to the city general plan and sphere of
influence would reflect "some degree of interest" in developing that
area, specifically the casino project of the Ione Band of Miwok
Indians, a housing development in the works called "Slate Point" on 88
acres owned by Matulich and various commercial developments on Highway
49.

The council voted unanimously to approve the correction and an
accompanying resolution saying growth of the sphere would not
negatively impact the environment. Mayor Michael O'Meara was absent.

The council on Thursday will also discuss and/or possibly act
on:

* A job description and salary range for a city administrator
position.

* Status of city branch of the Amador County Library.

* A letter to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and other
agencies informing of the results of the recall election.

The mayor also will consider appointments to council committees on
emergency service, solid waste management and task force, air quality,
fire, area disaster and the tribal-city advisory committee, involving
the Municipal Service Agreement with the Ione Band of Miwoks.

The council meets 7 p.m. Thursday in City Hall, 9426 Main
Street.