Pittsburg approves first production plant for pot

Stoneman Laboratory will locate on former Camp Stoneman site

The Pittsburg City Council took little time this week to approve the city’s first cannabis manufacturing plant in an industrial area once home to the Army’s Camp Stoneman.

The council on Tuesday approved the proposal 4-1, with Vice Mayor Jelani Killings dissenting.

Stoneman Laboratories LLC plans to manufacture medical and recreational marijuana on the same parcel that another cannabis business, Canyon Laboratories, was going to operate at before opting out. The building itself will be located in a different spot, however, at nearby 557 Clark Ave.

“This building is much more secure,” said Jordan Davis, assistant to the city manager, noting it was one of the original Camp Stoneman buildings of the 1940s. “The other building had aluminum walls, and we were going to require quite a bit of additional infrastructure.”

Because the site previously was approved, however, it already was determined to be appropriate for such a business, according to the staff report.

Davis told council members the latest proposed plan incorporates all the previously recommended operational and security requirements, as well as measures the Police Department said were needed.

Stoneman Laboratories has proposed that the new plant will accept raw cannabis materials, including tetrahydrocannabinol (known as THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), to process, package and ship as products to approved retailers. It has agreed to limit the raw material to “trim,” or the plant matter left from pruning cannabis plants; it generally excludes flowers and buds.

Any byproducts will be removed per state law, with a licensed service taking them to an approved disposal site outside the city, Davis said.

Stoneman representative Pat O’Keefe said the business initially would create about 20 jobs but eventually could produce up to 100 when fully operational.

Products to be manufactured include CBD topical creams and lotions, sprays, gels, medical components and vape pen cartridges. No retail is proposed as the products will be manufactured and shipped to destinations outside the city, Davis said.

Killings was not swayed. “I still have reservations about manufacturing vape cartridges, the health concerns and all … and also the manufacturing of edibles, he said. “The prior council was more conservative. I see that goal post continually moving, so I continue to have reservations about it.”

The agreement calls for a 5% cannabis tax rate on the first $10 million in gross receipts. or $500,000.

Beyond that, 2.5% more will be collected for an additional $10 million-$20 million, 2% for $20 million-$50 million, 1% for $50 million-$100 million and .5% for anything exceeding $100 million.

In a related matter, the council agreed to amend the city code to extend a 600-foot buffer zone between cannabis businesses and sensitive areas such as schools, city parks and libraries to a 1,000-foot buffer if dispensaries later are allowed. The council approved the measure 3-2, with Killings and Councilman Holland Barrett White dissenting.

“I get it — we’re moving the distance to open it up and be less restrictive,” Killings said. “But the whole point of the buffer is safety, so you have a manufacturing facility and if a fire broke out, if there was a gas leak or explosions, those are not going to take a walking path.”

But Jordan said the buffer is intended more to keep people from walking by, possibly picking something up or rummaging through the trash.

Businessman Wolfgang Croskey suggested the city needs to do more for other businesses, too.

“We are doing everything possible to try to make pot businesses more accessible but yet we have so many other businesses that we have hard-fast rules on …” he said. “Although there is a lot of glitz and potential money that comes from the commercial cannabis business and that’s very attractive, there are so many other businesses we could be going after.”

“We are doing everything possible to try to make pot businesses more accessible but yet we have so many other businesses that we have hard-fast rules on. Although there is a lot of glitz and potential money that comes from the commercial cannabis business and that’s very attractive, there are so many other businesses we could be going after.”

— Businessman Wolfgang Croskey