Cannabis business permit renewed

Administrator expresses concerns about buildings looking abandoned

The city of Ukiah recently renewed a use permit for a cannabis microbusiness on East Smith Smith, which has yet to open despite being granted a permit in February of 2020.

“The microbusiness has not opened, but cannabis use permits are deemed valid for one year, and must be renewed annually,” said city Planning Manager Michelle Irace. “There were no proposed changes to the previously approved use permit, with the exception of some personnel changes.”

During the Feb. 16 hearing to consider the permit renewal, city Zoning Administrator Craig

Schlatter asked for clarification on some findings, noting that the Ukiah Police Department responded to “five calls for service at the project location, but the police department stated that they do not all appear to be an adverse result of the business.

Schlatter requested that planning staff “clarify what ‘adverse result of the business’ means, and how is ‘excessive’ defined by staff?”

I race said that the wording had come from the UPD, which “stated there were subjects on front of the business, on two occasions, apparently smoking something. So when I asked for clarification on whether those incidents were directly related to the business, the UPD clarified that they did not seem to be directly related to the operation.”

As to what would be deemed “excessive,” Irace said that such a determination is based on a year’s worth of statistics from the UPD “to see if there’s a sharp increase in calls, for example.”

“When I drove by the business, the three suites look almost identical to when the Planning Commission first approved the project,” Schlatter continued. “My question is, ‘When will the business be operational, and what are the delays preventing it from opening? The concern is, the three suites almost look abandoned, and I worry a little bit about that attracting nuisance activity in the future.”

In response to why the business had not opened yet, applicant Jay Donnellan of Wine Country Cannasseurs said the delay was “due to a lot of things related to Covid. I wasn’t able to get the funding to put money into the building, but my building plans are all done, and I am going to be sending them in (Feb. 16), so we’re applying for our building permit as soon as those plans get in, and we’ll be ready to start.”

Schlatter said he was going to be “keeping an eye on that number of police calls, and am definitely encouraged that you plan to start operations soon.” He then approved the request to renew the permit to operate a business that includes cannabis cultivation, distribution and retail in three storefronts: 270, 272 and 274 E. Smith St.