Studied other cities, their agencies

She said San Diego officials see cannabis as a growing industry they could foster, similar to craft brewing businesses. That’s possible because of new city leadership and the lack of major problems with cannabis businesses since the city legalized the industry in 2014.

“There is a whole new landscape out there,” Fitzgerald said. “Some perceived concerns from before didn’t happen. Retail stores are operating like regular retail stores.”

The City Council approved the bureau and nearly $1 million for eight city workers last summer, but it is just starting to take shape this winter after months of exploring what other cities and states do with similar cannabis oversight agencies. “We’re really trying to take a few minutes to study the best way to move San Diego forward and not sort of jump in,” Fitzgerald said.

The bureau now consists of Fitzgerald and one other employee, but she said the rest of the staff should be hired in the next three to six months.

Their primary focus will be coordinating city efforts that have previously been spread across the Police Department, the City Attorney’s Office, the Fire Department, Economic Development and officials handling land-use approvals and building permits.

“We need to ensure that everyone knows what the rules are and they are clear,” she said.

The bureau will also focus on enforcement and compliance of city regulations, including surprise visits to businesses.

“Those will ensure things are how they should be,” Fitzgerald said. “If they aren’t, we will take decisive action.”

The bureau will also enforce other laws related to cannabis, such as the city’s recent ban on cannabis billboards near sensitive areas like schools.

The new bureau will meet quarterly with cannabis opponents to hear their concerns and with industry leaders to become aware of new ideas and any problems they are facing.

Among the new ideas Fitzgerald said she expects to explore are on-site consumption lounges and special cannabis events similar to farmers markets, as well as delivery-only businesses and a social equity program.

All of those have been tried in other cities, with varying degrees of success.

A social equity program would try to help low-income residents and minorities break into the industry, which can be expensive. It could include giving them a leg up for delivery-only businesses, which have lower startup costs and overhead than dispensaries and production facilities.

The city now allows deliveries only by businesses that have a city-approved storefront for retail sales.

Consumption lounges could boost sales and help foster more cannabis tourism, which now faces the challenge of tourists buying cannabis here but having no convenient place to consume it.

Fitzgerald said San Diego may loosen some city policies that restrict where cannabis businesses can operate, but she said it would be premature to discuss that.

Industry leaders have long complained that San Diego is one of the only cities to prohibit cannabis businesses near churches. The city also requires the businesses to be in industrial areas, preventing them from being integrated into commercial areas like they are in Denver and other leading cannabis areas.

San Diego has approved 24 dispensaries, and 21 are now open. The city also has approved 40 production facilities, but only 11 of those have opened.

Fitzgerald said she expects to present the City Council with a proposal in early 2021 to fund the new bureau by levying an annual operating fee on all cannabis businesses. That would be in addition to special cannabis taxes they pay on all sales.