CANNABIS TASK FORCE
MINUTES
Regular Meeting 4:00 PM
Monday, August 18, 2025
City Hall
Study Session Room
68-700 Avenida Lalo Guerrero
Cathedral City, CA 92234
CALL TO ORDER
City Manager Charles McClendon called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Members Present:
Kenneth Churchill, Member
Danny Lee, Member
James Lawrence, Member
John Ramistella, Member
Matthew Goodman, Member
Members Absent:
Armando Perez, Member
Staff Present:
Tracey Hermosillo, City Clerk
Charles McClendon, City Manager
Anne Ambrose, Assistant City Manager
Andrew Firestine, Community and Economic Development Director Justin Gardiner, Code Compliance Manager
Kevin Biersack, Financial Services Director
Kevin Reza-Ayala, Analyst II
Manuel Rocha, Assistant Planner
Talen Weinman, Code compliance Officer
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. Accept the February 24, 2025 Minutes.
A motion was made by Member Lee and seconded by Member Lawrence to accept the February 24, 2025 Cannabis Task Force Minutes.
RESULT: PASS
MOVER: Danny Lee, Member
SECONDER: James Lawrence, Member
AYES: Churchill, Lee, Lawrence, Ramistella, Goodman
ABSENT: Perez
2. AGENDA
A. Cannabis Ordinance Amendments
Recommendation: This item is presented for information, discussion and possible recommendation to City Council.
City Manager Charles McClendon introduced Andrew Firestine, Community and Economic Development Director, who provided an overview of the Cannabis Ordinance and proposed update. He noted that the following members of the team from SCS Engineers were also in attendance and available for questions:
Paul Schafer
Christopher Petro
Eva Luu
Armando Hurtado-Garcia
He covered the following points:
•A background of ordinances regulating the licensing of cannabis businesses
•The number of cannabis businesses and licenses
• Issues related to cannabis odor
•The responses to issues related to cannabis odor
•Ongoing challenges
•The enactment of a moratorium on the approval of new cannabis licenses and conditional use permits and the issuance of building permits for the build-out or expansion of new cannabis businesses •The extension of the moratorium
•Actions staff has taken since the moratorium was put in place •Review of cannabis regulations related to zoning
•Review of cannabis regulations related to separation requirements •Review of cannabis regulations – odor control
•Review of cannabis regulations – odor enforcement
•Cannabis research – what other cities and counties are doing oZoning questions asked
oEnforcement questions asked
•Review of zoning questions
•Consultant support of SCS Engineers
•SCS Engineers Report
•Odor control technology
•Overview of the proposed Ordinance
oZoning Regulations
oOdor Control Plans
oEnforcement
oLicensing
oCannabis Tax
•Review of alternatives and other considerations
•Overview of public outreach and engagement
•Recommendation that will be made to the City Council
There was discussion among the members of the committee, concerns were expressed, and questions were raised. Staff responded to questions raised and provided clarification along with members of the SCS Engineers team.
A motion was made by Member Churchill and seconded by Member Ramistella to recommend that the proposed Ordinance presented by staff be presented to the City Council for consideration and approval.
RESULT: PASS
MOVER: Kenneth Churchill, Member
SECONDER: John Ramistella, Member
AYES: Churchill, Lee, Lawrence, Ramistella
NOES: Goodman
ABSENT: Perez
3. PUBLIC COMMENTS
There were no members of the public in attendance.
ADJOURNMENT
City Manager Charles McClendon adjourned the Cannabis Task Force Meeting at 5:30 p.m.
Chair, City of Cathedral City Secretary, City of Cathedral City