Montebello will soon consider whether to end the hold placed on zoning for new marijuana businesses in the city following the drug becoming legal in the state of California this year.
At its 6:30 p.m. meeting Wednesday, the city council will discuss where to allow commercial marijuana operations — including cultivators and manufacturers, as well as research and testing firms — to set up in the city. No dispensaries will be allowed.
“The idea is to see if there’s a will to approve…the ordinance and see where people are on it,” Councilman Jack Hadjinian said.
Hadjinian said marijuana businesses could bring in a lot of money — as much as $800,000 to $900,000 to the city.
“This is an economic opportunity for the city,” he said. “We’re very limited in opportunities available to us.”
Not everyone was thrilled with that opportunity, however.
Linda Nicklas, a co-founder of a local activist group opposed to legalization, said there isn’t enough information to determine how much new revenue the city could see. She called the language in the city report “vague.”
“I think it will be a drain on our already short-staffed police department,” Nicklas said.
Councilwoman Vivian Romero, who said the city could use the money, said she still would like to wait before making a decision.
“I feel like we need to do a lot of study sessions,” Romero said. “We should look before we leap. This really has not had the full review necessary to avoid unintended consequences.”
Passed in November 2016, Proposition 64 legalized the use of recreational marijuana in California and allowed for the creation of state’s cannabis pot industry. The law also allowed local cities to decide whether to legalizing commercial marijuana within their borders.
The city council about four months ago voted to put off making a decision. At the time, the city’s planning commission had recommended zoning that would have allowed marijuana businesses to open on industrial lots that were at least 600 feet from schools.
The city estimates about 100 parcels fit that description.
Council members said then they wanted more time to consider the city’s new rules. Mayor Vanessa Delgado said the city wanted to focus on Measure S, a proposed three-quarter-cent sales tax that was going before voters in November.
Since then, Measure S lost, and the financial issues that drove the council to ask for the tax increase haven’t gone away. In a report, City Manager Andrew Pasmant projected a $4.2 million deficit for 2017-18.
The report also said the city had $9.3 million in reserve as of June 30, 2016, but he added new figures won’t be available until this spring.
The Montebello city council already amended its business license law to allow marijuana manufacturers and research firms. But the city still needed to enact zoning changes to indicate where those kinds of businesses could locate.
Supporters of legalization say the new business could bring in needed revenue to the city — Montebello would require any businesses in one of three areas marked for development to make an annual payments.
In his report, Pasmant said that revenue would fund services addressing any negative affects from the new businesses, including law enforcement as well as street and public infrastructure improvements. But there are no figures on how much money the city could get.
