The city of Santa Barbara on Monday announced the tentative selection of three retail storefront cannabis dispensaries.
After an extensive review process, the city chose Coastal Dispensary, LLC, 1019 Chapala St.; Farmacy SB, 128 W. Mission St.; and Golden State Greens, 3516 State St.
“Having earned a permit, these successful applicants may now begin the process to obtain the necessary building and regulatory permits, and to make tenant improvements to the business locations,” City Administrator Paul Casey wrote in a news release.
The City Council in January agreed to allow three retail storefront commercial dispensaries.
Fourteen businesses submitted proposals that city officials reviewed and ranked. The original deadline to submit applications was March 30, but the city extended it to April 20 because “nearly all were incomplete to some degree.”
Like all communities throughout California, Santa Barbara is grappling with a new state law that legalized recreational marijuana. Many cities have been seduced by the allure of the cannabis tax revenue, while trying to manage the location of the cash-only dispensaries, which require security guards and surveillance cameras.
The Cannabis Application Review Team consisted of five people, representing the City Attorney’s Office, the Planning Department, the Fire Department, the Police Department and the Finance Department.
Coastal Dispensary received the highest score, at 938 points, followed by SGSB, Inc, which scored 935.
However, the latter was disqualified because it was within 1,000 square feet of Coastal Dispensary, and the city’s ordinance says that retail dispensaries must be at least 1,000 feet apart.
Farmacy SB scored 914 points, followed by Golden State Greens, which slipped into the third place spot with 901 points.
Those that were shut out included: Canndescent, Sunday Goods SB and Have a Heart.
All six companies submitted hefty applications and interviewed in a public meeting.
At that meeting, Adrian Sedline, CEO of Candescent, said that he wanted to “build a flagship store and global brand” in Santa Barbara.
Farmacy SB is owned by Graham Farrar, a former software engineer and one of the founders of Sonos.
The City Administrator’s Office plans to make the formal determination on the permits during a public meeting at 4 p.m. July 11 at the Faulkner Gallery and the Santa Barbara Public Library downtown.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
