The Alhambra City Council gave final approval Monday to a ban on all recreational marijuana businesses in the city.
The ordinance approved by the council bans all land uses associated with recreational marijuana – commercial cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, retail sales and laboratory testing.
In addition, the ordinance prohibits delivery of recreational marijuana anywhere in the city but would allow medical marijuana deliveries to a patient’s primary caregiver in Alhambra.
In accordance with Prop. 64, which legalized recreational marijuana use and sales in 2016, Alhambra’s ordinance allows residents to grow up to six marijuana plants for personal cultivation.
However, the ordinance establishes several regulations for personal marijuana grows – the plants must be grown in residences or accessory structures that are fully enclosed and secured against unauthorized entry, gas products related to cannabis cultivation are prohibited, indoor grow lights cannot exceed 1,000 watts per light and a fire extinguisher must be kept in the same room or structure where the marijuana is being grown.
Resident Lola Armendariz was the lone resident to speak about the ordinance at Monday’s City Council meeting, and she expressed concern about how the city intended to oversee personal marijuana grows.
“Who’s going to monitor this?” Armendariz asked.
City Attorney Joseph Montes said that as with all city code issues, Alhambra would act only if someone files a complaint about a resident’s personal marijuana grow.
Alhambra previously had a moratorium against private cannabis cultivation and non-medical facilities since December 2016. The moratorium was set to expire Dec. 10.
When the City Council gave preliminary approval to the ordinance Sept. 11, Mayor Jeff Maloney said that future councils could revisit the issue and potentially change course.
Maloney said he believed the council was being responsible by maintaining the status quo and observing how the commercial recreational marijuana industry evolves.
“It’s not an issue I’m adamantly opposed to, but I don’t want to be the guinea pig,” Maloney said at the Sept. 11 meeting. “I don’t want Alhambra to be the first ones out of the box trying to figure out what the problems are.”
While most San Gabriel Valley cities have banned recreational marijuana businesses, Baldwin Park has approved up to 25 such businesses to operate, and West Covina is drafting an ordinance to allow these businesses to operate in the city’s manufacturing zone.
