WATSONVILLE — Seven years after adding a chapter to the Watsonville City Code to regulate the cultivation and manufacturing of medical marijuana in the city, the City Council is scheduled to consider amendments to the cannabis stock program at Tuesday's meeting. be.
According to a staff report by Community Development Director Susie Merriam and Associate Planner Ivan Carmona, in 2017 a new chapter was created in the city ordinance regulating the cultivation and manufacturing of medical marijuana within the city. A year later, the ban on recreational marijuana businesses was repealed. In 2019, the council adopted an ordinance establishing a cannabis equity program that “provides an opportunity for those negatively impacted by the drug war to enter the legal cannabis market,” Merriam and Carmona wrote.
However, the city did not conduct a cannabis equity assessment until 2022, when the City Council agreed to align recommendations outlined in an assessment prepared by the California Rural Policy Center (California State University, Humboldt). In order to do so, the city passed an amendment to its ordinance, allowing the city to apply. Merriam and Carmona write about state cannabis equity grant funding:
Once the evaluation is complete and the City of Watsonville is eligible for the state grant, the City received a $767,436 grant to support businesses eligible for the Cannabis Equity Program in fiscal year 2022-23. A total of $690,699 was issued to local cannabis businesses.
However, the Cannabis Equity Program grants were amended at the state level in 2023 as more cities developed their own programs and grants became more competitive. Despite conducting an equity evaluation the previous year, Merriam and Carmona wrote that the state found two flaws in Watsonville's program. One was a subsection of a local ordinance that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. and California Constitutions, which guarantees equal treatment under the law to people of all genders. This subsection reportedly violated a provision that made businesses at least 50% women-owned eligible to participate in the program.
Another deficiency cited was the restriction that only one cannabis stock permit be reserved per business category, which the California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development said was too restrictive and the program It was determined that this was inconsistent with the goal.
In response, staff changed the code language to remove eligibility criteria for women-owned businesses and combined permits for cannabis stock businesses. Definitions that refer to city approvals as licenses or licensees have also been changed to refer to them as permits and permitters, to align with industry terminology.
Finally, certain sections of the code were changed to align with the equity programs of cities such as Sakaramento and San Jose, which have competitive equity programs to fund state cannabis equity grants.
“Their program does not differentiate between the application process for stock permit holders and non-stock permit holders, nor does it limit the number of permits set aside for stock operations,” Merriam and Carmona said. I'm writing. “They provide funding and technical assistance as needed to eligible equity businesses.”
The proposed changes were presented to the Planning Commission at its Oct. 1 meeting. The committee recommended the council approve these changes in a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Lucy Rojas and Commissioner Brand Sención are absent, leaving the District 4 seat vacant.
In other business, the City Council will consider density bonuses and a preliminary map for a 13-lot subdivision on vacant land owned by Habitat for Humanity on Airport Road, and regarding restrictions on drive-through facilities in city ordinances. I also plan to participate in a study session. .
The council will hold a public meeting on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the top floor of the Watsonville Civic Plaza, 275 Main Street, Watsonville. The meeting will begin with Recreation Superintendent Imelda Negrete's highlights of the Department of Parks and Community Services' summer program and Public Works Director Courtney Lindberg's report on the pavement management plan, followed by a discussion of legal issues starting at 5:30 p.m. Closed sessions will be held and regular meetings will be held. A public meeting will be held at 6:30, and most of the discussion will take place there.
