Sonoma mayor predicts cannabis dispensary to open in 2020
Sonoma Mayor Amy Harrington outlined a five-step process at a meeting of local cannabis enthusiasts Feb. 12 that she suggested could lead to the approval of one or possibly two dispensaries in Sonoma in a little over a year’s time – even as Sonoma County’s cannabis permitting process seems stuck in bureaucratic limbo.
Harrington suggested that the first step in the City of Sonoma allowing a dispensary could begin as early as this week’s City Council meeting, on Wednesday, Feb. 20.
Harrington presented a “Cannabis Policy Implementation” timeline at a recent meeting of the Sonoma Valley Cannabis Enthusiasts, a casual organization of locals interested in establishing appellation-style branding for locally-grown product. The organization has been meeting monthly for about a year at a variety of locations, discussing the group’s nonprofit status, refining their mission and planning a group party for later this year.
The February meeting took place at HopMonk Tavern Sonoma, where Harrington took the stage to distribute her five-step plan and predict the acceptance of a Sonoma dispensary as soon as the end of the year, and its opening in mid-2020.
She was met with a warm welcome – and some targeted questions – but a generally positive reaction from the group.
“It was the best meeting we ever had,” said Michael Coats, one of the founders of the Cannabis Enthusiasts group. Other officers of the organization include former city council member Ken Brown, winemaker Mike Benziger, cannabis entrepreneur Erich Pearson and dispensary applicant Jani Friedman.
Though Harrington distanced herself from cannabis usage – “It’s not my thing,” she said – she insisted that it is the role of city government to engage the issue. “My main thought about it is, it’s not the role of the government to be telling responsible adults what they can and cannot do with a legal product,” said Harrington.
The City of Sonoma currently has an ordinance banning commercial cannabis business in town. The path to a dispensary would have to pass through the step of overriding that ban, either by repealing the ordinance or replacing it.
Several other Sonoma County cities also ban cannabis businesses, including Healdsburg, Windsor, Rohnert Park and Petaluma. Dispensaries are legal and in operation in several cities, including Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Cotati; an opening is planned soon in Cloverdale.
According to the one-sheet plan Harrington distributed, the process should begin with the hiring of a contract consultant for about $25,000 – to be considered by the council at the Feb. 20 City Council meeting – followed by a discussion on policy direction at a following council meeting in March. At that time topics such as approving a medical- or adult-use dispensary, ideas on location and other regulatory issues would be discussed. Formalizing a proposed ordinance would continue at subsequent city council and planning commission meetings into the summer.
The third step of the five-step plan would be a three-month period from April to June when the Planning Commission and City Council would prepare and evaluate a city ordinance to allow dispensaries in town, to be located outside required “setbacks” around schools and parks.
The fourth stage of the plan would be a “merit-based selection process,” a 90-day period that could last from July through September. Harrington outlined a “beauty pageant” process for this step, where applicants would present their credentials, experience and plans to the council – or, more likely, an ad hoc committee – which would then issue an RFP among several applicants who might be best suited to open a dispensary to the council’s liking.
The City Council would make its final decision on a dispensary proposal possibly as soon as the end of the year.
“I’m fairly certain we can accomplish it this year,” Harrington said. She projected one and possibly two dispensaries would be approved by the council.
However, following the selection of a preferred dispensary operator or operators, an estimated nine months would be required to go through licensing, permits and other processes before the business could open. That would bring a dispensary to Sonoma in summer 2020 at the earliest.
Harrington conceded that all these steps – the consultant, the policy discussions, the RFP process, the approval – are only now possible because the makeup of the council changed with the November election, with cannabis-supporter Logan Harvey winning the seat formerly held by Gary Edwards, who chose not to seek a second term. (Harvey was also in the room at the SVCE meeting; the third vote in the pro-cannabis majority is presumed by Harrington to be Councilmember Rachel Hundley.)
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