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URGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 3350
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CORONA,
CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 5.36.060 OF THE
CORONA MUNICIPAL CODE TO ESTABLISH A PROCESS
TO RESOLVE TIED SCORES FOR THE LAST AVAILABLE
COMMERCIAL CANNABIS PERMIT FOR STOREFRONT
RETAILERS AND/OR STOREFRONT RETAIL
MICROBUSINESSES
WHEREAS, Article XI, § 7 of the California Constitution authorizes cities to make and enforce within their limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws; and
WHEREAS, Corona Municipal Code (“CMC”) Chapter 5.36 establishes development standards and permitting requirements to allow certain types of commercial cannabis businesses (storefront retail, non-storefront retail, manufacturing, distribution, testing laboratories, and microbusinesses) within the City’s industrial zones (M-1, M-2, M-3 and M-4 zones); and WHEREAS, CMC § 5.36.060 provides that the maximum number of commercial cannabis permits to be issued for storefront retailers and/or storefront retail microbusinesses shall be twelve based upon the population formula as set forth in § 5.36.060; and WHEREAS, pursuant to CMC §5.36.040(A)(1), the City Council is required to adopt, by resolution, rules and regulations for permitting commercial cannabis businesses; and WHEREAS, on April 21, 2021, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2021- 022 establishing rules and regulations to govern the permitting of commercial cannabis businesses (“Rules & Regs”); and
WHEREAS, the Rules & Regs require that applicants for storefront retailer and/or storefront retail microbusiness commercial cannabis permits must participate in a competitive merit-based evaluation process conducted by the City’s consultant, Hinderliter, DeLlamas & Associates (“HdL”); and
WHEREAS, upon completion of the merit-based evaluation process, HdL is required to score and rank each applicant from highest to lowest and applicants are thereafter reviewed by the City in ranked order for the opportunity to obtain a commercial cannabis permit subject to the applicant’s satisfaction of all other requirements set forth in CMC and the Rules & Regs; and
WHEREAS, HdL has conducted the merit-based evaluation process and has provided to the City the final written ranking of applicants for storefront retailer and/or storefront retail microbusiness commercial cannabis permits; and
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2 WHEREAS, there are several applicants on HdL’s final written ranking that received the same score, meaning the applicants tied for the same position on the ranking; and WHEREAS, the City desires to address the issue of tied scores by allowing applicants with tied scores to each have the opportunity to obtain provisional approval for the last available commercial cannabis permit for storefront retailers and/or storefront retail microbusinesses, which could potentially expand the number of approved final permits; and WHEREAS, California Government Code § 36937(b) authorizes the City Council to adopt by a four-fifths vote, without following the procedures otherwise required for the adoption for an ordinance, an urgency ordinance which is necessary for the immediate protection of the public peace, health and safety; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that an urgency ordinance is necessary to amend the CMC to address situations where there is a tie score among two or more storefront retailer or storefront retail microbusiness applicants that are being reviewed for the last available commercial cannabis permit because the City is in the middle of the application process, which requires that the City take action within certain time periods, and the CMC and the Rules & Regs do not provide any rules or guidance for breaking a tie.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CORONA
DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Urgency Findings. In accordance with California Government Code Section 36937(b) and in order to protect the public peace, health and safety, the City Council finds as follows:
A. The Recitals stated above are incorporated herein by reference.
B. The CMC regulates the establishment and operation of commercial cannabis businesses in the City and provides the application process and standards for issuing commercial cannabis permits.
C. Neither the CMC nor the Rules & Regs contain any rules, standard or guidance on how to resolve a tied score in the merit-based evaluation process, which scores are used to place all applicants in ranked order and to determine the order in which applicants are given the opportunity to obtain a commercial cannabis permit.
D. This Urgency Ordinance must take effect immediately upon adoption to provide effective standards and guidance for resolving tied scores, and waiting 30 days from adoption after a first and second reading of the Ordinance would pose a risk to the public peace, health and safety in that the CMC and the Rules & Regs require that the City take action within certain time periods and applicants for commercial cannabis permits would be unnecessarily delayed in the application process.
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3 E. The City Council has determined that the revisions to the CMC set forth herein are necessary to better and more properly implement the application process for commercial cannabis permits.
F. The proposed amendments to the CMC attached hereto are consistent with all of the objectives, policies, general land uses, programs and actions of all elements of the Corona General Plan, and none of the proposed regulations conflict with current General Plan.
G. The proposed amendments to the CMC attached hereto are not detrimental to and are instead necessary for the immediate preservation and protection of the public convenience, health, safety and general welfare of the City, its residents and businesses, since the regulations establish a rule or standard for resolving tied scores among storefront retailer and storefront retail microbusiness applicants on the final ranking and will result in reasonable regulation of commercial cannabis businesses.
H. All legal prerequisites to the adoption of this Urgency Ordinance have occurred.
SECTION 2. CEQA Findings. This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the common sense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA.
This action makes minor text amendments to the CMC to resolve situations where there is a tied score for the last available commercial cannabis permit, and there is no possibility that adopting this Ordinance will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
SECTION 3. Amendment of Section 5.36.060. Subsection (A) (Maximum number) of Section 5.36.060 (City permit – Maximum number and types) of Chapter 5.36 (Commercial Cannabis) of Title 5 (Business Licenses and Regulations) is hereby amended to read as follows:
(A) Maximum number. The maximum number of commercial
cannabis permits for each type of commercial cannabis business that are available for issuance within the city shall be as follows:
(1) Storefront retailer and/or storefront retail microbusiness:
(a) The maximum shall be calculated using a formula of one storefront retailer and/or storefront retail microbusiness per 15,000 city residents, as determined by the California Department of Finance and set forth in the E-1 report,
rounded-up to the next whole number, or as established
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2 by City Council resolution pursuant to § 5.36.060(E)
(“Storefront Maximum Number”). As of the date of
adoption of the ordinance establishing this section in
2020, the Storefront Maximum Number is 12.
(b) Notwithstanding (a) above, when considering applicants for provisional approval, as described in the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to § 5.36.040(A)(1), if
there is a tie in the merit based review score given to the two or more applicants that could receive the permit
representing the Storefront Maximum Number (“Tied
Applicants”), then the Storefront Maximum Number
shall be increased to accommodate all such Tied
Applicants. For example, since the current Storefront
Maximum Number is 12, if there is a tie between 2
applicants who could both receive the 12th provisional
approval, then those 2 applicants shall both be
considered for provisional approval. If there is a tie
between 3 applicants who could both receive the 12th
provisional approval, then those 3 applicants shall be
considered for provisional approval. All applicants that receive provisional approval shall have the opportunity to obtain final approval.
(c) Notwithstanding (b) above, in no event shall applicants with a merit-based review score lower than Tied
Applicants be considered for provisional approval,
unless the total number of applicants granted provisional and/or final approval drops below the Storefront
Maximum Number. Accordingly, in the event any of the
applicants who are granted provisional approval are
denied final approval or otherwise fail to obtain final approval for any reason, or in the event that any applicant granted final approval has its permit revoked or forfeited for any reason, as further provided in Chapter 5.36 or the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to
§ 5.36.040(A)(1), the Storefront Maximum Number
shall not be increased to accommodate any applicants
who are not Tied Applicants.
(2) Non-storefront retailer: No numerical limit.
(3) Manufacturer: No numerical limit.
(4) Distribution: No numerical limit.
(5) Testing laboratory: No numerical limit.
(6) Non-storefront retail microbusiness: No numerical limit.
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3 SECTION 4. Severability. If any provision or clause of this Urgency Ordinance or any application of it to any person, firm, organization, partnership or corporation is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions of this Urgency Ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application. To this end, the provisions of this Urgency Ordinance are declared to be severable.
SECTION 5. Conflicting Ordinances. This Urgency Ordinance shall supersede all other previous City Council resolutions and ordinances that may conflict with, or be contrary to, this Urgency Ordinance.
SECTION 6. Effective Date. This Urgency Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon adoption, if adopted by at least a four-fifths (4/5) vote of the City Council.
SECTION 7. Publication. The Mayor shall sign this Urgency Ordinance and the City Clerk shall attest thereto and shall within fifteen (15) days of is adoption cause it, or a summary of it, to be published in the Press Enterprise, a newspaper published and circulated in the City of Corona.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 15th day of June, 2022 Mayor of the City of Corona, California
ATTEST:
City Clerk of the City of Corona, California
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5 CERTIFICATION
I, Sylvia Edwards, City Clerk of the City of Corona, California, do hereby certify that the foregoing Urgency Ordinance was regularly introduced and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Corona, California duly held on the 15th day of June, 2022 by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAINED:
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Corona, California, this 15th day of June, 2022 City Clerk of the City of Corona, California
[SEAL]