Fully aware of the legal battles being waged between cities and
medical marijuana dispensaries around the area
– including nearby Hollister – the San Juan Bautista City
Council adopted an urgency ordinance that bans dispensaries at
least through March of next year.
Saying there
”
has been no specific request
”
to open up a dispensary in San Juan, City Manager Steve Julian
said the council
”
has seen what Hollister and other communities are going
through
”
as they attempt to ban dispensaries
– often after they have already set up shop. An urgency
ordinance is deemed necessary
”
for the protection of the public health and welfare
”
and therefore is allowed to go into effect immediately, instead
of the standard 30 days.
Fully aware of the legal battles being waged between cities and medical marijuana dispensaries around the area – including nearby Hollister – the San Juan Bautista City Council adopted an urgency ordinance that bans dispensaries at least through March of next year.
Saying there “has been no specific request” to open up a dispensary in San Juan, City Manager Steve Julian said the council “has seen what Hollister and other communities are going through” as they attempt to ban dispensaries – often after they have already set up shop. An urgency ordinance is deemed necessary “for the protection of the public health and welfare” and therefore is allowed to go into effect immediately, instead of the standard 30 days.
“The general feeling among the council is that we need economic development in this town, but not that type of economic development,” Julian said. “This ordinance will give them the time to give this some more consideration as to whether it’s something we’d want to pursue further.”
The council adopted an “urgency interim ordinance” on March 16 to establish a 45-day moratorium on the issuance of permits, licenses or any other type of approvals related to medical marijuana dispensaries. At that time, the council also appointed an ad hoc committee to study the measures available to address the many issues related to such approvals.
Since that committee has not had time to meet with city officials – namely the planning director, city manager and city attorney – the council re-adopted and extended the ordinance so that the dispensary ban can be in place another 10 months, until March 14, 2011.
“That gives us time to study the issues, so if [dispensaries] are ever to be permitted we can have time for what needs to be looked at,” Julian said, adding that the prohibition is “enough for now” to prohibit the establishment of dispensaries. “Our zoning is fairly rigid in terms of the uses and activities permitted, particularly in the historic downtown. Of all the towns I’ve worked in, this has the most rigid zoning.”
Specifically, the extended moratorium will allow the city to study security protocols, traffic impacts and other issues associated with any municipal code amendments that would pertain to pot dispensaries.
San Juan’s county neighbor, Hollister, has been trying in vain to get Purple Cross Rx to vacate its downtown location and leave the city limits. The medical marijuana dispensary, which serves nearly 300 clients, was recently sued by the city, which claims that zoning codes prohibit such dispensaries from operating. Purple Cross’s landlord has also gone to court in an attempt to evict tenant Scott McPhail.
