CaliforniaCityNews hosted its first Municipal Cannabis Policy Workshop on May 1 in Long Beach. More than 60 city officials from across 22 cities in Southern California attended the first-of-its-kind workshop, designed to help cities learn from experts -- and one another -- as they look to design successful cannabis policies.
The event, co-hosted by CaliforniaCityNews and CaliforniaMarijuanaPolicy, featured several notable guest speakers discussing a range of topics related to the booming cannabis industry. The event was sponsored by the Hawthorne Gardening company.
Speakers included:
- Long Beach Cannabis Program Manager Ajay Kolluri
- Los Alamitos Chief of Police Eric Nunez
- Placentia Councilman Chad Wanke
- Brad Rowe from MuniServices/Avenu
- Jonatan Cvetko, founder of Angeles Emeralds
- Sean Prestia of The Hawthorne Gardening Company
Rowe and Kolluri led the first panel discussing ways for cities to deal with the financial aspects of the marijuana industry. Some of the topics centered on tax rates, estimating revenue, and ways to attract businesses.
Ajay Kolluri of the City of Long Beach walked attendees through a recent presentation made to the Long Beach City Council, and outlining the more than $1.6 million in cannabis revenues brought by the city in 2018. Staff estimates that number to increase to over $4 million in 2019, driven by expansions in retail, cultivation and manufacturing/distribution as permitted by the city.
Key to planning as outlined by Kolluri is ensuring the city has properly staffed out from a planning, legal, community services and public safety perspective, and attendees were walked through some of how Long Beach has budgeted and implemented on this front.
Brad Rowe from MuniServices/Avenu expanded the financial overview to include Sample Tax Rates from other cities and quarterly returns from various California Counties, as well as lessons learned from other states.
Chief Nunez of the City of Los Alamitos provided an update on public safety issues related to cannabis. Nunez is the 1st Vice President of the California Police Chiefs Association, and discussed ongoing state legislation and how departments across the state are meeting new needs created by recreational cannabis legalization.
The morning event concluded with a panel on potential community concerns. City Councilman Chad Wanke of the City of Placentia, who has also worked on cannabis land use issues with other municipalities, discussed how to create effective permitting processes to attract successful cannabis partners to the city.
Sean Prestia of the Hawthorne Gardening Company gave an overview on odor mitigation for various cannabis businesses, including cultivation but also retail and cannabis lounges, and how cities can craft effective ordinances that eliminate potential nuisance complaints from neighbors of cannabis businesses. His presentation is available here.
Jonatan Cvetko of Angeles Emeralds, an association of patients, advocates, business owners, and other thoughtful stakeholders working toward responsible cannabis regulations in Los Angeles County ended the workshop by discussing effective community engagement strategies. “It’s absolutely necessary for cities to properly learn how to implement legalized cannabis,” said Cvetko who also serves as a Cannabis Advisor for the County of Los Angeles. “Workshops like these can help any city official know what steps to take so that their municipality can fully benefit from legal marijuana.”
This was the first of these policy workshops, but not the last. CityNews is planning at least one Northern California workshop this summer. Stay tuned for details and let us know if your city is interested in participating or potentially co-hosting.