Feeling a sense of urgency, the Goleta City Council this week directed staff to draft some ordinance options to regulate medicinal-marijuana cultivation, delivery and taxation.
If the city doesn’t act by March 1, 2016, it would give up to the state the right to regulate under provisions of the Medical Marijuana Regulation & Safety Act.
The act is made up of three new state laws, AB 266, AB 243 and SB 643, signed by the governor on Oct. 9.
Cities are especially inclined to act, since new laws seemingly set up the framework for legalization of marijuana to be placed on the November 2016 ballot, Councilman Michael Bennett said Tuesday.
“My understanding … is that it’s important that a city weigh in,” he said. “Anything we have enacted may or may not work in the future if we don’t respond.”
Exactly what type of ordinance council will approve by the tight deadline was uncertain, with the council split on how far regulations should go.
The Santa Barbara City Council voted last week to pursue its own regulating ordinance.
Right now, Goleta prohibits any new medical-marijuana dispensaries from operating inside city limits or from making deliveries, City Attorney Tim Giles said.
The city has two existing dispensaries that were essentially grandfathered in — they were established before the current ordinance — and another location under investigation for possibly violating regulations.
New laws offer officials the chance to ban medical-marijuana cultivation and deliveries, with the exception of deliveries to qualified patients and their primary caregivers, or to come up with a licensing policy.
A related tax measure would have to be approved by Goleta voters, and council members were interested in learning more about that option.
Bennett proposed creating a regulatory licensing process for cultivation, banning deliveries inside the city except for exempted individuals, and requiring licensing for deliveries.
Mayor Paula Perotte seconded Bennett’s suggestions, but Councilman Roger Aceves said he’d be comfortable with an ordinance that allows dispensary deliveries and lets people grow their own medical marijuana.
“I don’t know that we want cultivation businesses growing in Goleta,” Aceves said of larger collective operations.
Bennett suggested the ordinance could be changed over time, especially if the council approves it as an emergency ordinance when the item comes back.
Councilman Jim Farr abstained from two votes, both of which were split 2-2 on some of the ordinance specifics.
Giles suggested skipping another vote, saying staff would come back with multiple options and that council could decide then what might be appropriate.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.