Clearlake City Council approves first reading of commercial cannabis ordinance amendment
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday held a first reading of a commercial cannabis ordinance amendment to clarify language regarding where the activities can take place, with council members indicating they wanted to protect the Lakeshore Drive corridor.
City Manager Greg Folsom and City Attorney Ryan Jones brought the amendment to the council in order to address issues with an ordinance the council approved in October which, because of a missing semicolon, appeared to allow for growing on both sides of Highway 53.
In December, the council implemented an urgency ordinance to prevent commercial cannabis on the west side of Highway 53, where they had indicated at that time that they didn’t want the activities, as Lake County News has reported.
One of the key issues that emerged for the four council members during the discussion on Thursday was that they didn’t want growing activities along Lakeshore Drive.
That was the biggest concern for Councilwoman Joyce Overton, with Councilman Nick Bennett agreeing about protecting Lakeshore but adding that he also is concerned about Olympic Drive, the city’s other key thoroughfare.
Bennett said he wasn’t against commercial grows, as they’re now a reality. “We need to look into the future – five, 10, 20 years from now. What is the cutoff point, where are we going to limit it to?”
He said he believed it had been the Clearlake Planning Commission’s intent to keep the activities on the east side of the highway.
Overton said there appeared to be one spot on Olympic Drive in commercial zoning that would be acceptable.
Councilman Phil Harris said he believed the council should move forward with allowing commercial cannabis on all sides, excluding Lakeshore Drive.
During public comment, Jeremy Mayfield said permits can easily be revoked if necessary, and the real issue is seeing and smelling the plants. He suggested they decided on operations on a case-by-case basis.
Henry Bornstein suggested more precise language, noting that the amended ordinance would be clearer if it said grows could take place if they’re located to the east of the highway and if they comply with city rules.
Cannabis business owner Chris Jennings said he felt the ordinance was missing some important items, and should have added to it every license type, including microbusiness.
Jennings said people in his industry already are having to jump through hoops forward, backward and sideways. He suggested that instead the city should be encouraging people, noting the trend for people to want to come the area, work and make a living.
He said he already has nine full-time employees with more to come, and said he believed Bennett has the idea of the future wrong when it comes to cannabis, the potential for which he suggested could easily surpass all of the county’s agriculture production.
Jennings said any cannabis businesses and facilities proposed for Lakeshore or Olympic drives will be new or renovated buildings with a lot of investment.
“There’s a lot of good that comes from the cannabis industry, and it touches a lot of different areas,” he said.
In response, Bennett clarified that, in speaking about the future limits, he believed cannabis needed to be controlled so it doesn’t take over the city or negatively impact the community.
Mayor Bruno Sabatier said he didn’t disagree about not having cultivation on Lakeshore Drive, where he wants to see restaurants and retail. He said he also wasn’t against cannabis activities on Olympic Drive in C4 zoning, defined as heavy service commercial and light industrial.
Harris moved to approve commercial cannabis activities on both sides of Highway 53 when it’s entirely inside a building, and also allow it on the east side in hybrid greenhouses except in properties adjacent to Lakeshore and Olympic, with allowances for C4 zoning areas on Olympic.
A second reading will go before the council at an upcoming meeting.
In other business on Thursday, the council directed staff to work on a 15-year extension to the remaining five years on Southshore Little League’s contract for Haverty Field and the Redbud Park ball fields in order for the league to move forward on a number of proposed improvements.
The council presented a proclamation declaring February as Black History Month to Rick Mayo of the Lake County NAACP chapter, awarded a contract for design services for the Highlands Park Improvement Project to Melton Design Group for an amount not to exceed $94,420, and held a public hearing and approved a resolution approving committing Community Development Block Grant Program income funds for code enforcement and an updated program income reuse agreement.
The council also held a special meeting before the regular meeting for the purposes of the midyear budget review, and approved $395,000 in recommended budget adjustments.
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