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City of San Leandro <br />Meeting Date: October 17, 2016 <br />Staff Report <br />Agenda Section:File Number:16-540 ACTION ITEMS <br />Agenda Number:10.D. <br />TO:City Council <br />FROM:Chris Zapata <br />City Manager <br />BY:Rich Pio Roda <br />City Attorney <br />FINANCE REVIEW:Not Applicable <br />TITLE:Staff Report for an Urgency Ordinance to Amend the San Leandro Municipal <br />Code to Prohibit the Issuance of Additional Medical Cannabis Dispensary <br />Permits or Land Use Approvals <br />RECOMMENDATION <br />Per the direction of the City Council provided at its October 3, 2016 regular meeting, staff <br />presents for the Council’s consideration an urgency ordinance to prohibit the issuance of any <br />additional medical cannabis dispensary permits or related land use approvals beyond the <br />issuance of three that would facilitate the operation of additional retail medical cannabis <br />dispensaries in San Leandro. <br />BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS <br />The City Council adopted a medical cannabis dispensary ordinance that allows for the <br />issuance of up to three medical cannabis dispensary permits. As of the date of this staff <br />report, the City Council has already issued two such permits. The issuance of the third <br />dispensary permit is also scheduled for consideration by the Council at tonight’s meeting. <br />Given that none of these permit awardees have commenced operations, coupled with the <br />rapidly evolving legal and regulatory environment at the state and federal level, the City <br />Council is interested in pausing the issuance of any further retail medical cannabis dispensary <br />permits. Such a pause will allow additional time for the first three dispensaries to finalize any <br />outstanding permitting and entitlements and begin their operations, and allow sufficient time <br />for the City to carefully monitor and regulate their operations once they begin dispensing <br />medical cannabis to patients. A pause in the issuance of additional dispensary permits will <br />also allow additional time for the City Council and City staff to closely monitor the status of <br />various legislative and regulatory changes that are under discussion at the state and federal <br />level and/or which may be considered by the electorate as part of the upcoming November <br />2016 election. <br />The adoption of this Urgency Ordinance is designed to formally codify the City Council’s <br />desire to temporarily prohibit the award of any additional retail medical cannabis dispensary <br />Page 1 City of San Leandro Printed on 10/11/2016