MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Mireya G. Turner, Community Development Director
Mary Claybon, Senior Planner
DATE: January 14, 2025
SUBJECT: 1:30 P.M. - Informational Update on Cannabis Ordinance Task Force Recommendations
EXHIBITS
A- Summary of COTF, PC and BOS Permit Type Recommendations
B- COTF recommendations as of November 18, 2024, and remaining focus topics for discussion
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Since its formation by the Board of Supervisors on July 12, 2022, the Cannabis Ordinance Task Force (COTF) has met regularly, working on a number of draft ordinances which were Board priorities, and more recently, on recommendations for revising the current cannabis policy.
COTF began meeting on August 1, 2022, and has held bi-weekly meetings over the last two years to discuss current regulations and provide recommendations for revisions of the ordinance (which will become Article 73). Article 27 containing existing County cannabis regulations (beginning on pg. 27-110) can be found online at: Zoning Ordinance | Lake County, CA (lakecountyca.gov) <https://www.lakecountyca.gov/460/Zoning-Ordinance>. The COTF meeting agendas, videos and minutes may be found online at: <https://www.lakecountyca.gov/agendacenter> . The COTF webpage containing information and presentations may be found at: <https://www.lakecountyca.gov/1691/Cannabis-Ordinance-Task-Force>
Between August 2022 and October 2023, the COTF developed recommendations related to level of review for different permit types. These recommendations were reviewed by the Planning Commission on December 14, 2023, and by the Board on February 6, 2024. A summary of these recommendations is included in Exhibit A.
In an effort to bring recommendations forward to the Board of Supervisors by the end of this calendar year, the COTF began holding a series of weekly, three-hour special meetings in November and December. Additionally, COTF has narrowed the scope of discussion to a specific list of topics, rather than reviewing the ordinance line by line; this list includes suggestions from Staff, the public and COTF. Suggestions are based on an effort to align with the State’s Department of Cannabis Control’s regulation, which can be found online at: <https://cannabis.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/dcc_commercial_cannabis_regulations-1.pdf>
Exhibit A includes a list of recommendations made by the COTF as of November 18, 204 (Table 1), and the remaining focus topics COTF plans to discuss (Table 2). Because of the complexity of some of the issues, multiple meeting have been needed to cover certain topics, and a formal recommendation will not be ready to bring forward to the Board this calendar year. As such, this item includes an informational update for the Board; no action is required. Staff provided the Planning Commission with the same informational update on November 6, 2024. However, Table 1 has been updated with actions taken by the COTF as of November 18, 2024.
II. Recommendation
Receive informational update.