50A - ORD - UPDATE MMD PROGRAM - Laserfiche WebLink

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Update On The Medical Marijuana Regulatory Program And Amendments To Ordinance No. NS- 2864 (Measure BB) April 5, 2016 Page 2 by the end of the 2015 -2016 fiscal year. Once all 20 permitted collectives are fully operational, the City anticipates generating over $1.5 million annually to fund program costs and enforcement efforts. On November 18, 2014, the City Council approved the Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (MMD) Enforcement Plan to close illegal marijuana dispensaries and ensure the monitoring of permitted collectives /cooperatives operating legally under Measure BB. As approved, the MMD Enforcement Plan provided additional staffing in various departments to work collaboratively to implement the plan. City staff from the Planning and Building Agency Code Enforcement Division, Police Department, and City Attorney's Office comprise the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force. The Task Force works collectively in determining the appropriate actions needed to enforce the Measure. These actions are progressive in nature and include notifications to property owners and dispensary operators, administrative citations, criminal prosecution, disconnection of utilities, and the filing of possible civil actions. Given the strategic and collective efforts by the Task Force, the MMD Enforcement Plan has resulted in the closure of approximately 79% (92 out of 116) of identified illegal marijuana dispensaries operating in the City. Additionally, the Task Force has successfully shut down 14 illegal marijuana grow operations in the City with an estimated street market value of $20.5 million. At the January 26, 2016 Public Safety and Neighborhood Improvement Council Committee meeting, City staff was directed to review and analyze the operational standard in Ordinance No. NS -2864 that required unarmed security guards at permitted medical marijuana collectives. The Committee's request was a result of constituents, including operators of permitted medical marijuana collectives /cooperatives, expressing an interest in armed security guards to provide greater safety and security at permitted medical marijuana collectives. City Staff has reviewed and analyzed the above - referenced operational standard and recommends that Ordinance No. NS -2864 be amended. The proposed amendment would neither require nor prohibit that security guards be armed. Rather, the amendment removes the requirement that security guards be unarmed. In addition, given that four (4) out of the twenty (20) selected applicants have not submitted their Regulatory Safety Permit (RSP) applications in over 14 months, City Staff recommends adding a deadline by which completed RSP applications must be submitted. That deadline would provide up to eighteen (18) months from the date of the independent selection process (lottery) for selected applicants to submit a completed RSP application. This will provide an opportunity to select the next available registered applicant(s) from the waitlist. Waitlisted applicants that move onto the selected list will have no more than six (6) months to submit a completed RSP application following issuance of a written notice advising them of the opportunity. Furthermore, a RSP applicant will have six (6) months to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy after submitting its RSP application. Failure to meet any of the foregoing deadlines will disqualify an applicant from the selected applicant list and waitlist. Other administrative amendments are also recommended, e.g., definitions and changing code section numbering. 50A -2