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City of San Leandro <br />Meeting Date: September 15, 2014 <br />Staff Report <br />Agenda Section:File Number:14-386 ACTION ITEMS <br />Agenda Number:10.B. <br />TO:City Council <br />FROM:Chris Zapata <br />City Manager <br />BY:City Council <br />FINANCE REVIEW:David Baum <br />Finance Director <br />TITLE:Staff Report for Update on Medical Cannabis Dispensary Program <br />SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS <br />Staff recommends that the City Council authorize implementation of the following steps or <br />provide direction to staff regarding any changes to the recommended approach. <br />BACKGROUND <br />In December 2013, the City Council approved a medical cannabis regulatory ordinance to <br />facilitate the approval, regulation, and operation of one medical cannabis dispensary in San <br />Leandro. The ordinance, in conjunction with the California Attorney General’s Guidelines for <br />the Security and Non-Diversion of Marijuana Grown for Medical Use (August 2008), imposes <br />strict zoning, security, and operational requirements on dispensary applicants. To assist in <br />developing the process that will be used to help inform the City Council’s selection of the one <br />dispensary operator, the City Manager created an inter-departmental stakeholder team <br />consisting of staff from the Community Development, Finance, City Attorney, Police and <br />Alameda County Fire and Alameda County Public Health departments. This team also <br />assisted in the development of a Request for Proposals (RFP) that was used to recruit and <br />enter into an agreement with ICF Resources, LLC, who will be leading the efforts to develop <br />the dispensary selection process. <br />The ICF Team includes advance-degreed professionals with proven project management <br />success, direct medical cannabis application processing experience, and the multidisciplinary <br />technical expertise necessary to ensure a rigorous, consistent, and unbiased evaluation of <br />dispensary applicants. ICF staff bring knowledge in relevant fields, including medical <br />cannabis, application processing, public health, finance and economics, law, security, risk <br />assessment, and community outreach. ICF also assisted the Commonwealth of <br />Massachusetts in implementing a very similar, although larger scale, medical cannabis <br />dispensary selection program. <br />Page 1 City of San Leandro Printed on 9/9/2014