Memorandum
Date: January 9, 2024
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Michael S. Green, District 4 Supervisor
Subject: Consideration of appointment of county supervisor as non-voting member of Commercial Cannabis Ordinance Task Force
Executive Summary: On June 7, 2022, your board considered formation of a cannabis task force or ad hoc committee to address commercial cannabis permitting activities and enforcement. As stated in the memo, the initial recommendation by then-Community Development Director Mary Darby was to appoint a county supervisor as a member of the task force or ad hoc committee.
However, that same recommendation did not appear on the video presented at the June 7, 2022, meeting; instead, Darby proposed a planning commissioner “or two” be appointed to a nine-member “team” or task force. Darby additionally proposed several county employees to review any task force recommendations, including two (2) county supervisors and several department heads, as well as stakeholders including agriculture, the Chamber of Commerce and CalFire. After extended discussion of the proposed member categories, your board approved the formation of the task force with no supervisors or planning commissioners as sitting members. The primary driver of the board discussion was keeping the task force at a manageable size.
On July 12, 2022, your board considered applications submitted for appointment to the COTF. Seven (7) task force appointments were made in six (6) designated member categories.
On November 1, 2022, despite earlier concerns raised about the size of the task force, your board approved adding an eighth designated “fire district” seat to the COTF. Representatives of multiple fire districts have since participated in several COTF meetings, beginning November 28, 2022. However, the COTF continues to operate without direction to allow or receive supervisor input.
Supervisor Sabatier’s efforts as chair of the industrial hemp ad hoc committee in 2019-2020 provide a highly relevant example of the value of providing early supervisor input and guidance on complex land-use issues. Today, multiple boards, committees and commissions benefit from supervisor input and consensus-building efforts. The board’s concerns as first stated in 2022 regarding the size of the cannabis task force did not block the later addition of a fire district seat.
In like manner, as the COTF reviews the commercial cannabis ordinance and its amendments, having a supervisor contribute their understanding of the ordinance as it has evolved could be helpful, as this “long view” perspective may not otherwise be available to staff and task force members. The task force has been running very smoothly on all accounts, and the addition of another non-voting member is not intended or anticipated to complicate its working processes.
The sponsor requests appointment of a supervisor to sit on COTF in a non-voting capacity. Such an appointment would help improve business process efficiency and analysis of complex land-use and regulatory issues before COTF recommendations are elevated for Planning Commission and/or board review. Your board may wish to consider appointing an alternate, as well.
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Recommended Action: Appoint Supervisor to sit on Cannabis Ordinance Task Force in a non-voting capacity.