City Council
MEETING DATE: 3/9/2016
TITLE:
Title
Draft Medical Cannabis Administrative Rules
End
FROM:
Charlie McClendon, City Manager
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council review and provide feedback and guidance regarding the content of the draft Medical Cannabis Administrative Rules
Body
BACKGROUND:
Revised ordinances governing the issuance of local licenses and conditional use permits for Medical Cannabis businesses were recently adopted by Council. The new ordinances provide that potential business operators may file applications with the City beginning on April 1, 2016. Staff has worked to develop procedures and rules to guide the application process and ensure that all applicants are treated fairly. Once the draft rules are finalized they will be posted on the City website and made available to applicants so that they can be aware of what will be expected.
DISCUSSION:
The draft Medical Cannabis Administrative Rules were prepared to provide guidance to potential applicants and staff regarding the process for applying for a Medical Cannabis License and Conditional Use Permit. The rules synthesize the regulations in Chapter 5.88 and 9.108 of the Code and provide a step-by-step guide to the permitting process. The rules start with an introductory section that identifies some of the key issues that applicants must consider before deciding to apply for a Medical Cannabis License or Conditional Use Permit. These include the fees for applying (the City is keeping the existing deposit-based system in place for now) and the fact that a Medical Cannabis License and CUP are required for each location. Also, the applicants can choose whether to apply for a License and CUP concurrently or may wait to apply for a CUP until after the License has been approved. Under either scenario, a CUP cannot be issued until after the License is approved. The rules make it clear to applicants that applying for both approvals concurrently is at their own risk, and they will not be entitled to a refund of any money spent processing the CUP application in the event that the License is denied. The introductory section of the rules also discusses the processing time for applications and notes the factors that impact how quickly the City can process the application. Staff will endeavor to complete the background check portion of the process within 60 days of all applicants submitting a Live Scan.
Sections 2 and 3 of the rules outline the specifics of the process for Medical Cannabis Licenses and CUPs, respectively. These sections track the requirements of the ordinances and explain the requirements in layman’s terms. These sections also fill in the gaps where the ordinance does not provide detail on how an aspect will work. For example, Section 2.2 provides detail on how the background check process will work and includes a two-step process: Live Scanning and Background Investigation. Section 2.3(d) also provides a process where persons who preliminarily have failed the background check can provide rebuttal evidence before a final determination is made.
Staff is seeking feedback from Council on all of the provisions contained in the rules, but we seek specific feedback on one issue in particular. The question is whether to allow applicants to make changes to their applications after they have been deemed complete by staff. Under the old CUP process, applications were not allowed to be changed after they were submitted. The new ordinances do not mandate that we allow or not allow changes, so it is appropriate to address the topic in the rules. The primary area of concern, from staff’s perspective, is changes in the ownership. For example, if a proposed business has five owners and two fail the background check process, should the applicant be allowed to drop those two individuals from the application late in the process? Not allowing such changes would incentivize applicants to ensure that individuals with dubious criminal history are not involved in the business from day one. On the other hand, nothing would stop the three owners that cleared the background check from immediately reapplying for a license and CUP at the same location.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The costs of processing and issuing licenses and conditional use permits will be covered by the fees paid by the applicants.
ATTACHMENTS:
Draft Administrative Rules
Draft Application Forms