Lodi City Council to discuss rules for marijuana

City staff recommends that ban on sale, cultivation continues

Proposed changes to the city’s municipal code regarding marijuana will be the topic of discussion when the Lodi City Council meets on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Carnegie Forum.

Spurred by changes to the state law regulating marijuana, Lodi City Manager Steve Schwabauer said the discussion will give the council the opportunity to decide whether they want to allow commercial growing of cannabis in the city.

“The new legislation requires that cities act within a certain period of time in order to have the ability to exercise their zoning power, and so we’re giving the council the opportunity to exercise their zoning power before the time runs out,” Schwabauer said. “If we did nothing, we would lose ability to have any regulatory authority over it at all.”

Currently, the city prohibits all outdoor cultivation and allows the indoor cultivation of medicinal marijuana in residential zones by a qualified patient.

In 2016, the city banned the delivery of medical marijuana and the processing of medical marijuana, including cleaning, curing, preparation, laboratory testing, manufacturing, packaging, and extraction of active ingredients to create marijuana-related products and concentrates.

The establishment or operation of medical marijuana dispensaries have not been allowed in or on any premises in the city since April 2009.

City staff recommends maintaining the city’s existing ban on medicinal marijuana

dispensaries and expanding the ban to include commercial and wholesale sales of adult use cannabis, cannabis edibles or byproducts.

It also recommended that council continue the ban on all outdoor cultivation of cannabis within the city and amend the ordinance to allow indoor cultivation of cannabis as permitted under state law.

City staff has also proposed that council continue the ban on the delivery and processing of medical marijuana and expanding the ban to include adult-use cannabis.

“It doesn’t change the city’s existing ordinance that allows people to grow personally, and it doesn’t affect personal use,” Schwabauer said. “It’s all about commercial growing.”