Print friendly
E-mail story
Tip Us Off
Comments
Share Article
Facebook
Twitter
Google+1
del.icio.us.
Digg!
Yahoo! Buzz
Diigo
google
newsvine
reddit
technorati
Yahoo!
MyspaceWith the county’s two-year moratorium on new medical marijuana storefronts soon to expire, Planning and Development staffers held a public workshop this week to unveil their current zoning proposal for where exactly any would-be cannabis club storefronts could open in the future. Interestingly enough, despite the lawsuit-filled controversy that followed the City of Santa Barbara during and after its efforts to craft a similar policy in recent years, the county’s workshop late Monday afternoon featured an audience of only three (this reporter included) and virtually zero public input.
Specifically, the proposal — which, up until this point, was cobbled together after input from the Sheriff’s Department, Environmental Health, County Counsel, and others — calls for dispensary storefronts to be allowed only in areas already zoned for general commercial business that have a minimum buffer of 1,000 feet between them and any school, park, or daycare center. Further buffer requirements include a 300-foot minimum from any residential zone, a 100-foot minimum distance from any legal dwelling, and a 1,500-foot minimum between any club and any other cannabis storefront. According to county staff, after running these requirements through current maps, only seven potential sites exist within the county, including spots in Vandenberg Village, eastern Goleta, the unincorporated west end of Santa Barbara, New Cuyama, and Orcutt. As for existing clubs that predate the moratorium, there is no proposed “grandfather” language, and, as such, each storefront will have to apply for legal nonconforming status on an individual basis with county planners.
The matter is scheduled for further discussion and a possible vote at the County Planning Commission on September 7.
Previous Month
Comments
Let's hope the County doesn't change the rules after they're made like the City did to the Green Well. I think it was Das Williams who was one of the proponents for the insitu change - but Das did get elected to the Assembly, didn't he?
EastBeach (anonymous profile)
August 25, 2011 at 1:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Re-legalize it and get the government out it.
billclausen (anonymous profile)
August 25, 2011 at 2:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The new Bill was just registered, now it is on to the signature collection phase if we want to vote on legalization for Adults only in the next election.
As for the zoning meeting having low attendance, I read 30 to 50 news sources a day and never saw any announcement. Could be my bad, but not everyone could of "just missed it" could they ? If we pass the new Bill we will be making all this moot anyway. Let them have their little powertrip right up until Americans get tired of see family in jail with their lives ruined not to mention having to keep paying 30,000 to 50,000 a yr to feed and house them. Giving them welfare and housing would save the county/State over 10,000 a yr per inmate. Heck, it might even finally get the Courts to say our jails are up to the minimum standards of safety, health care, and not Overcrowding the detains like sardines.
No need to keep funding the private prison industry is there when we can save the money for our own schools and communities ? We might even be able to save enough staff the new Santa Maria Jail in the right manner. Sounds like a win-win doesn't it ?
SmileySam (anonymous profile)
August 25, 2011 at 5:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great title for this story. I imagine county staff dropping peyote and receiving the wisdom of where to place the dispensaries from a talking coyote. They have to wait until September to approve of the measure because that's when their talons turn back into hands.
rockstar2000 (anonymous profile)
August 25, 2011 at 12:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Coyotes DO talk, as this 28-second video will prove. Turn up the volume.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIPr23...
billclausen (anonymous profile)
August 25, 2011 at 6:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
East Beach: It was Das Williams, and he was in favor of increasing the distance from schools to conform to state guidelines. But after SB's plan to force Green Well to close was determined to be unconstitutional, the ordinance was amended - not to make it conform to civil rights law, but to eliminate more expense to the city as a result of another court decision against SB in a lawsuit by Compassion Center (Steve Wiley, Dec 2010).
14noscams (anonymous profile)
August 26, 2011 at 5:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What a worthless set of regulations. Distance from dwellings? Day Care? What in the world difference does it make that the dispensaries be 100ft from a residence or a few hundred from a daycare center? Are the toddlers going to wander into the store and buy some weed? Are the people who live 101ft from the store immune from the potential issues regarding patients buying their meds?
Talk about an utter waste of time and money... I'd like to regulate that morons be at least 10000 ft from any and all govt. boards and positions. We could instantly remove 99% of our problems by removing the idiots who think they need to write such superfluous regulations.
iamsomeguyinsb (anonymous profile)
August 26, 2011 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)