The City’s Comprehensive Cannabis Ordinance went into effect on January 19, 2018. The regulations address the locational and operational requirements for personal cannabis cultivation and commercial cannabis businesses, covering allowances for both medical and adult use. The City’s website srcity.org/cannabis was recently revamped to reflect the new ordinance and provides a one stop shop for the Cannabis Program – land use policy, business support, permit tracking, complaints, and taxation.

Cannabis Permitting Update – 4^th Quarter – January 12, 2018

The 4th Quarter Cannabis Permitting Update tracks cannabis business activity in the City of Santa Rosa; including current activity levels, types of cannabis activity; impacts on industrial properties and vacancy rates.

The goal of this report is to track both the number and concentration of new cannabis businesses in Santa Rosa, and the impacts to other industries that occupy similar zoning. As the City of Santa Rosa implements new cannabis regulations, and permits new businesses within the city limits, understanding these impacts will inform policy development in the support of a diverse economy, and the retention of local businesses.

Quick Summary Points:

• Approved applications represent 400K sq. ft. of industrial floor area (3.9% of total available) and the following business activities:
  • 16 manufacturing*
  • 11 distribution
  • 12 cultivation*
  • 2 testing lab
  • 3 existing retail (dispensary)*

^{*subject to City’s Cannabis Business Tax}

• These statistics show a significant increase in the manufacturing and distribution sectors since the last quarterly report in September.
• The current vacancy rate of 4.6% for industrial land in Santa Rosa shows a slight decrease from previous quarter reports in which the vacancy rate was 5%.

As of January 19, 2018, two new sectors, commercial adult use and volatile manufacturing are now allowed in the City limits and applications are being accepted and processed.

The City’s three existing medical cannabis retail dispensaries were issued zoning clearance approval on January 19^th to add adult use to their operations; however, they are waiting on their state license prior to offering the new service. This is expected to occur by the end of this week.

Application intake for new retail cannabis businesses has begun with a Pre-Application Phase in which applicants can file for a pre-application neighborhood meeting, staff consultation, and/or concept design review as desired or appropriate. This initial phase will be followed by an Application Intake Phase for submittal of the Conditional Use Permit. In anticipation of competing land use permit applications within the same retail cannabis concentration area, staff is working with the Council’s Medical Cannabis Policy Subcommittee to develop a merit based approach for scoring, ranking and selecting which of the competing applications move forward to the Conditional Use Permit Phase. Next subcommittee meeting is scheduled for February 22, 2018, at 9:00 am in the Council Chambers.

In the meantime, to address the high demand for retail applications proposed within the same area, staff is bringing an Urgency Ordinance to the City Council at their February 6^th meeting. The ordinance seeks to authorize the Department to conduct a pre-application evaluation and selection process for when multiple retail proposals are submitted in the same area.

Any questions can be directed to Clare Hartman, Deputy Director - Planning, at (707) 543-3185 or [email protected]