Item #08
Date: June 16, 2026
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Dan Flores, Community & Economic Development Director Mike Luken, Planning Consultant
Subject: Amend Section 18.67.030(a)(2) of the Marysville Municipal Code (Commercial Cannabis Activity) for Consistency with the Marysville 2050 General Plan and the Downtown Marysville Specific Plan
Recommendation:
Conduct a duly noticed public hearing and take the following action:
Introduce, by motion, and waive further reading of the proposed Ordinance (Attachment 1) amending Section 18.67.030(a)(2) of the Marysville Municipal Code, with second reading and adoption of the Ordinance set for the next regular meeting of the City Council.
Background:
Chapter 18.67 of the Marysville Municipal Code (Commercial Cannabis Activity) was originally adopted by Ordinance No. 1404 in 2018, with subsequent amendments adopted in 2019 (Ordinance No. 1420). The chapter establishes the local regulatory framework for commercial cannabis activity within the City, including the buffer or “separation” distances that govern where a commercial cannabis business may be located. Among those buffers, Section 18.67.030(a)(2) currently prohibits a commercial cannabis business from locating within five hundred (500) feet of any “residential use, residential area or residential zone” (Attachment 2).
On November 7, 2025, the City Council adopted the Marysville 2050 General Plan Update and the Downtown Marysville Specific Plan, along with a joint Environmental Impact Report. The 2050 General Plan establishes broad policy direction for future development citywide, and the Downtown Marysville Specific Plan implements the General Plan within the designated Downtown Specific Plan Area, which is also the City’s SACOG “Green Means Go” zone for accelerated infill housing production.
A central policy of both the 2050 General Plan and the Downtown Marysville Specific Plan is the expansion of housing opportunities through the introduction of residential uses in zone districts that have historically been non-residential or single-use. Multiple-family residences, condominiums, single-family residences, accessory dwelling units, live/work lofts, and similar residential uses are now permitted, conditionally permitted, or allowed with a minor use permit in the Downtown Mixed-Use (DMU), B Street Corridor (B), Commercial Mixed-Use (CMU), Medical Arts (ME), Mixed-Use Corridor (MU-C), and Mixed-Use Neighborhood (MU-N) Specific Plan Land Use Zones, as well as in the C-1, C-2, C-3, and C-H commercial zone districts citywide. As a result of these changes, residential uses are now allowed in most zone districts in the City. The relevant General Plan and Specific Plan provisions, including the Downtown Marysville Specific Plan Land Use Table and the Marysville Municipal Code Table 18.24.020 (Commercial Zone District Uses), are reproduced in Attachment 3 for the Council’s reference.
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Following adoption of the General Plan Update and Specific Plan, staff conducted a review of the Zoning Ordinance to identify provisions that conflict with the new land use framework. That review identified Section 18.67.030(a)(2) as a direct conflict. Because residential uses are now allowed in nearly every commercial, mixed-use, and Specific Plan zone district in the City, the existing 500-foot buffer measured from “any residential use, residential area or residential zone” effectively precludes commercial cannabis businesses from locating anywhere in the City in which they would otherwise be conditionally permitted.
California Government Code Section 65860 requires that the City’s zoning regulations be consistent with the General Plan and any applicable specific plan, and the proposed amendment is necessary to restore that consistency.
Pursuant to Section 65854 of the California Government Code and Chapter 18.105 of the Marysville Municipal Code, proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance must be referred to the Planning and Historic Preservation Commission for a duly noticed public hearing and recommendation prior to City Council action. On June 3, 2026, the Planning and Historic Preservation Commission held a duly noticed public hearing on the proposed Ordinance. Following the public hearing and consideration of the staff report, public testimony, and the administrative record, the Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council approve the proposed Ordinance as set forth in Attachment 1, without modification. The version of the Ordinance now before the City Council for introduction and first reading is identical to the version recommended by the Planning Commission.
Project Description
The proposed Ordinance amends only Section 18.67.030(a)(2) of the Marysville Municipal Code. All other provisions of Chapter 18.67, including the K-12 school, preschool, licensed childcare, youth center, library, and adult business buffers, the conditional use permit requirement, the State licensing requirements, the list of authorized state license types, and the application content and enforcement provisions, remain unchanged. The following is an overview of the key elements of the proposed amendment.
Narrowed Scope of the Residential Buffer
The amendment replaces the broad reference to “any residential use, residential area or residential zone” with a precise reference to lots located within the R-1 (Single-Family Residential) and R-2 (Two-Family Residential) zone districts. This change focuses the buffer on the lower-density residential neighborhoods that the buffer was originally intended to protect and eliminates the unintended preclusive effect of the existing language on areas that, under the new General Plan and Specific Plan, are now expected to support residential development as part of a mixed-use environment. The Neighborhood Apartment Residential (R-3) and General Apartment (R-4) zone districts are intended to accommodate medium- and higher-density multiple-family residential development and are functionally more comparable to the mixed-use and commercial zone districts (in which residential uses are also permitted) than to the lowerdensity residential neighborhoods the buffer is intended to protect; for that reason, the R-3 and R-4 zones are not included within the buffer trigger.
Express Treatment of Residential Uses in Mixed-Use, Commercial, Industrial, and Multi-Family Zones
The operative text expressly identifies the R-3, R-4, DMU, B, CMU, ME, MU-C, MU-N, C-1, C-2, C-3, C-H, M-L, M-1, and M-2 zone districts as zones whose residential character does not trigger the buffer.
This express list is intended to eliminate ambiguity for prospective applicants, staff, and the public regarding how the amended provision is to be applied in zones in which residential uses are now allowed alongside commercial, mixed-use, or industrial uses.
Preservation of Existing Protections
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All other buffers set forth in Section 18.67.030(a), including the 600-foot buffer from K-12 schools, preschools, and licensed childcare facilities, the 600-foot buffer from youth centers, the 400-foot buffer from libraries, and the 250-foot buffer from adult businesses, are unaffected by the Ordinance. Section 2 of the Ordinance expressly confirms that all provisions of Section 18.67.030 and Chapter 18.67 not specifically amended remain in full force and effect.
Method of Measurement
The buffer is measured from the nearest property line of the proposed commercial cannabis business to the nearest property line of any lot located within the R-1 or R-2 residential zone district. This express measurement standard provides clarity for staff and applicants in evaluating site-specific feasibility.
Existing Adjustment Authority Retained
Sections 18.67.030(b) and (c), which authorize the City Council and the Planning Commission to adjust the buffer distances at their discretion pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 26054(b), and which provide an appeals process to the Planning Commission and the City Council, remain unaltered.
Those provisions continue to provide site-specific flexibility in addition to the targeted amendment proposed by this Ordinance.
Key Takeaways
The proposed Ordinance is a narrow, targeted amendment intended to restore consistency between the City’s Zoning Ordinance and the Marysville 2050 General Plan and Downtown Marysville Specific Plan adopted on November 7, 2025. It preserves all of the City’s existing public-health and public-safety buffers applicable to commercial cannabis businesses, while removing an unintended conflict that, if left uncorrected, would effectively prohibit commercial cannabis businesses in zone districts where they would otherwise be conditionally permitted.
Geographic Effect of the Proposed Amendment
To assist the City Council in visualizing the geographic effect of the proposed amendment, an illustrative map is attached. Attachment 4 reproduces the City of Marysville Zoning Map overlaid with the proposed 500-foot buffer measured outward from the R-1 (Single-Family Residential) and R-2 (Two-Family Residential) zone districts. The map illustrates the practical reach of the proposed amended buffer and identifies the areas of the City in which a commercial cannabis business would and would not be eligible to locate under the amended provision. The map is illustrative in nature; for site-specific applicability determinations, the City’s authoritative GIS parcel layer and the measurement method specified in MMC § 18.67.070 shall control.
Alignment with City Council Goal(s):
Goal #1: Increase Fiscal Sustainability
Goal #2: Expand Economic Development
Environmental Impact:
The proposed Ordinance is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15305 of the CEQA Guidelines (Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations), in that the Ordinance establishes a minor alteration in land use limitations applicable to commercial cannabis businesses that does not result in any change in land use or density and does not involve property in areas with an average slope of greater than 20 percent. The Ordinance is also exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines (Common Sense Exemption), in that it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the amendment to Section 18.67.030(a)(2) of the Marysville Municipal Code may have a significant effect on the environment. In addition, the Ordinance implements a consistency amendment between the Zoning Ordinance and the previously adopted 2050 General Plan and Downtown Marysville Specific Plan, the environmental effects of which were analyzed in the joint Environmental Impact Report certified by the City Council on November 7, 2025.
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Legal Review:
This item has been reviewed by the City Attorney and approved as to form.
Fiscal Impact:
The proposed Ordinance amends a single subsection of the Marysville Municipal Code and does not establish any new program, regulatory requirement, or administrative process. Adoption of the Ordinance itself has no direct fiscal impact on the City and requires no appropriation of City funds.
The Ordinance does, however, restore the ability of commercial cannabis businesses to locate in the City in zone districts in which such businesses would otherwise be conditionally permitted under Chapter
18.67 of the Marysville Municipal Code. Each commercial cannabis business that lawfully locates and operates in the City represents a potential source of recurring municipal revenue, including (i) local cannabis business tax imposed on the gross receipts of commercial cannabis operations pursuant to the City’s cannabis business tax ordinance; (ii) the City’s allocation of state and local sales and use tax on retail cannabis transactions, including the one-percent (1%) Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax share and any locally adopted transactions and use tax; and (iii) annual regulatory, application, and licensing fees collected pursuant to Chapter 18.67 and the City’s master fee schedule. The aggregate magnitude of these revenue streams is contingent on the number, type, and gross receipts of the commercial cannabis businesses that ultimately locate in the City and cannot be reliably estimated at this time.
Conversely, the existing language of Section 18.67.030(a)(2), if left uncorrected, would continue to preclude commercial cannabis businesses from locating in any zone district in the City, and the foregoing revenue streams would remain unrealized. The administrative costs of processing applications, conducting inspections, and enforcing Chapter 18.67 are designed to be recovered through application, permit, and annual regulatory fees, and the proposed Ordinance does not alter that cost-recovery framework.
Next Steps
Following introduction and first reading of the Ordinance at this meeting, the second reading and adoption of the Ordinance will be placed on the agenda for the regular meeting of the City Council on July 7, 2026. Pursuant to Government Code Section 36937, the Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after its adoption by the City Council. No further action by the Planning and Historic Preservation Commission is required.
Attachment(s):
• Attachment 1: Proposed Ordinance Amending Section 18.67.030(a)(2) of the Marysville Municipal Code (Commercial Cannabis Activity)
• Attachment 2: Current Text of Section 18.67.030 of the Marysville Municipal Code (for reference) • Attachment 3: Excerpts from the Marysville 2050 General Plan and the Downtown Marysville Specific Plan Identifying Zones in Which Residential Uses Are Allowed (for reference) • Attachment 4: City of Marysville Zoning Map Showing the Proposed 500-foot Buffer Around the R-1 (Single-Family Residential) and R-2 (Two-Family Residential) Zone Districts