Memorandum
Date: July 26, 2022
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Mary Darby, Community Development Director
Subject: Review of Planning Services Contract between the County of Lake and LACO
Executive Summary:
The California State Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has designated an allocation of a $2,101,143 grant to the County of Lake to be used towards supporting staff in processing the substantial workloads associated with transitioning a significant number of cannabis business into the regulated market, all with the goal of transitioning cultivators to annual licenses with the State.
Lake County’s application to the DCC requested grant funding to secure consultants that can assist in the processing of cannabis permit applications. A criteria for this grant program requires that these funds cannot be used to supplant existing funding sources. To that end, the current LACO agreement has been in place since January 1, 2022.
As of July 18, 2022, LACO has been assigned 70 projects:
• 6 projects have been approved
• 37 project review status memos were submitted
• 10 projects have project review underway
• 5 projects are at the Planning Commission stage
o 3 projects are tentatively scheduled for the July 28th Planning Commission meeting
o 2 projects are tentatively scheduled for the August 11th Planning Commission meeting
o 1 project is appealed to the Board of Supervisors
o 4 projects are continued to a later PC date
• 1 project has missing or incomplete file information that is required to complete the status review memo
• 1 project is on hold
• 8 projects have been returned or withdrawn
A working relationship between LACO Associates and the Planning Division’s Cannabis Program has been established and processes and procedures have been developed, and we continue to work with LACO to better streamline the permitting process.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
Consistency with Vision 2028 (check all that apply): ☐ Not applicable
☒ Well-being of Residents ☒ Public Safety ☐ Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, Recovery
☒ Economic Development ☒ Infrastructure ☒ County Workforce
☒ Community Collaboration ☒ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake
Recommended Action: Discuss the performance of the working relationship with LACO Associates and make recommendations for improvements.