El Centro council mulls pot vote
EL CENTRO — The El Centro City Council will likely decide Nov. 5 whether to definitively continue or end its moratorium on commercial cannabis operations.
To date, the city’s cannabis moratorium has been extended on a yearly basis since it was initially adopted in 2011. In August, the council indicated it wanted to take a definitive decision regarding commercial cannabis operations.
The four members of the council present for Tuesday’s regular meeting agreed to table the matter once it became evident they were evenly split in support of and in opposition to the moratorium.
The resolution will come back before the council at its Nov. 5 regular meeting, when Mayor Edgard Garcia, who was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, is expected to attend.
In the past, Garcia has indicated he is in support of allowing at least one cannabis dispensary to operate.
Councilman Tomas Oliva has consistently been in support of allowing commercial cannabis operations in the city to conveniently serve community members who benefit from its medicinal use.
“I’ve been for this since day one, since the moment I got up here,” Oliva said during Tuesday’s meeting. “My focus is straight access.”
After wrestling with the idea for the past two years, Councilman
Efrain Silva indicated on Tuesday, as in recent times, that he now finds himself in support of allowing both medicinal and recreational commercial cannabis activity.
“I’m now in a position where I am favor of a dispensary in the city of El Centro,” Silva said.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Council members Cheryl Viegas-Walker and Jason Jackson both reiterated their longstanding opposition to cannabis operations within the city.
Viegas-Walker said she is wary of permitting commercial activity that some studies suggest have contributed to increases in related black market activities.
She also expressed concerns that any authorized operations may have negative social impacts, particularly for youth.
“Anything that makes it more available, it’s just not going to be something that I support,” Viegas-Walker said Tuesday.
Jackson said his frequent interactions with the public have left him convinced the vast majority of the public is in opposition of allowing commercial cannabis operations locally.
He also questioned whether cannabis operations’ projected revenue stream would be enough to offset any potential social and enforcement costs incurred by the city.
“I think if we’re making a decision based on revenue generation I think that’s the wrong approach,” Jackson said. “We should make decisions up here on the dais that are best for our residents.”
When asked for his input during Tuesday’s council meeting, El Centro police Chief Brian Johnson said that he was heartened to see the council put as much thought into the matter as they have.
He also acknowledged that concerns about illegal operations and added enforcement have been brought to his attention by law enforcement colleagues in the Coachella Valley.
“The industry has not learned quite yet how to self-regulate,” Johnson said.
In advance of the council’s pending vote on commercial cannabis operations, the city will also host a community meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 at the City Council’s Chambers to solicit the public’s input.
The current moratorium is not scheduled to expire until June 30, 2020. A Nov. 5 vote, were it to end the ban, would allow city staff to draft and implement cannabis-related regulatory and land use policies in time for the moratorium’s expiration.
Any potential vote to end the moratorium would also require the council to identify the types and numbers of commercial cannabis uses that would be allowed in the city.
Those potential uses could include cultivation, manufacturing, testing, delivery/non-store front retailer, medicinal and/or recreational dispensaries, micro-business, distribution and/or transportation facilities.
The city would also be tasked with developing a commercial cannabis regulatory ordinance; develop a commercial cannabis regulatory ordinance; develop a merit-based application process and cost recovery fees; develop and conduct application review, scoring, merit-based ranking, and selection process; and develop a commercial cannabis tax measure for the November 2020 election.
In 2016, when 56 percent of statewide voters approved Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, only 46 percent of the city’s registered voters came out in support of it. Countywide, that figure stood at 45 percent.