Third cannabis dispensary, redistricting on council agenda

The Porterville City Council will begin the process of establishing a “wholly-locally owned” cannabis dispensary at its next meeting.

The council will also begin the process of the redistricting of the five districts in which the councilmembers represent at its next meeting, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The council will consider the request for proposal, RFP, process at its Tuesday meeting.

The Cannabid Ad Hoc Committee met on September 13, October 4, November 4 and November 29 to discuss the development ofa wholly locally owned cannabis dispensary. The committee defined “wholly-locally owned” as “an owner who currently resides and/or owns a business within Porterville’s Urban Area Boundary. The committee added the owner must have resided or owned a business in Porterville for at least three years.

The committee added “IF the applicant is an entity other than an individual, each and very member of the entity must meet the definition of local.”

That was an issue with the granting of the permits of the first two cannabis dispensaries, which have local owners, but also have ownership based in Southern California.

With the direction of the council, city staff can develop a draft RFP for a wholly locally owned cannabis dispensary and place it on the agenda for the December 21 meeting. That could lead to the city seeking requests for proposals from applicants, beginning on January 3.

Final applications would be due by February 4. A review of applications would be done by February 18. The process to complete and correct the applications and fees would be due by February 25.

A committee review of the applications would be completed by March 28 and interviews with the City Council would be done on April 20. The applicant would be selected 30 days after interviews with the City Council which would lead to the process of approving for a permit for a cannabis dispensary potentially happening in the summer.

The council will also hold a public hearing and begin the process of redistricting the five council districts in which the map would be used beginning with the 2022 election. The redistricting must be done by April 17.

Redistricting must comply with federal requirements for equal population and the Voting Rights Act.

The districts must be geographically contiguous; Communities of interest must also be kept together; The boundaries need to be easily identifiable; be compact; and not favor any political party.

The city must hold at least four public hearings in the process. One of the public hearings must be held before draft maps are drawn and two of the hearings must be held after the draft maps are drawn.

At least one of the hearings must happen on a Saturday, Sunday or after 6 p.m. on a weekday.

Communities of interested are defined but not limited to school attendance areas: dividing lines such as major roads or highways; areas around parks and landmarks; areas that have common issues; areas that share demographic characteristics such as income, education and language; and single-family and multifamily housing areas.

The council will conduct its second public hearing on January 18 to seek public input on maps that are drawn. Following that hearing district maps will be posted on the city website and available at City Hall. The third and fourth public hearings will be held on February 1 and February 15.

UNDERGROUND WORK

The city has worked along with Southern California Edison on a major underground utility project the council will consider on Tuesday. The project will convert overhead electric equipment to underground facilities, a process known as “undergrounding.”

Criteria for projects include areas that have a high number of overhead equipment; or are heavily traveled; or is considered a major artery.

SCE allocates rate funds for the projects. The city must have an active project by January 1 to take advantage of the funds.

The city has accumulated nearly $1.8 million in work credit allocations from SCE.

There have been nine projects proposed with the first project being Morton Avenue between Main Street and Roche Street and the second being Division Street between Olive and Putnam.

But the cost of the Division Street project is nearly $3.7 million and doesn't meet the eligibility standards.

Due to the city needing to have an active project by January 1, the Morton Avenue project has been chosen by city staff. Preliminary cost will be a little more than $1 million, but will continue to increase as the project is expected to take five years.

Other potential projects reviewed included Henderson, Fourth Street to Plano, $975,000; Jaye Street, Orange to Springville, $1.725 million; Main Street, Highway 190 to Porterville College, $1.725 million; and Newcomb, Oliver to Putnam, $975,000.

On Tuesaday the council will conduct a public hearing and consider approval of the Morton project.

In other business as part of its consent calendar the council will consider approving the purchase of a 5,000 gallon jet aircraft refueler at Porterville Municipal Airport. With the increase in wildfires, demand for jet fuel from Calfire and the U.S. Forest Service has increased and the 3,000-gallon jet aircraft refueler now being used needs to be replaced.

The council will consider the purchase of the jet aircraft refueler at a cost of nearly $239,000 which will be funded by the Airport Operating Fund.