CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
10/23/2023
1 SUBJECT:
Introduction of an Ordinance Amending Section 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii) (Windows and window coverings) of Chapter 16 of Title 4 (Cannabis Public Safety Licenses) of the Pacifica Municipal Code relating to storefront window size requirements for cannabis operations. Recommended California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) status: Exempt pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3).
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Introduce by title only and waive further reading of an Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Amending Section 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii) (Windows and window coverings) of Chapter 16 of Title 4 (Cannabis Public Safety Licenses) of the Pacifica Municipal Code and Finding Adoption of the Ordinance Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).”
STAFF CONTACT:
Christian Murdock, AICP – Planning Director
(650) 738-7341
[email protected]
Maria Sarasua – Chief of Police
650-738-7314
[email protected]
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
The City Council enacted Ordinance No. 818-C.S. (“Ordinance”) on November 17, 2017 to establish a marijuana public safety license, the procedures for issuance of said license, and certain standards intended to ensure public health and safety. Council then repealed and replaced the Ordinance by enacting Ordinance No. 843-C.S. on May 13, 2019, to replace the term “marijuana” with the term “cannabis” and to streamline processing of initial applications for a cannabis public safety license (CPSL). The City’s CPSL regulations in Chapter 16 of Title 4 of the Pacifica Municipal Code (PMC) are supplemented by zoning regulations governing in Articles 17.5 and 48 of Chapter 4 of Title 9 of the (PMC). These zoning regulations, among other things, specify the permissible locations for and allowable numbers of certain cannabis operations. As the City has processed applications for the six cannabis retail operations that were part of the initial application phase, all operators have been required to comply with the standards set forth in CPSL and zoning regulations. Planning Department and Police Department staffs have coordinated their reviews to confirm compliance or else impose conditions of approval (COAs) that would ensure compliance as a required component of the cannabis activity permit (CAP).
Since enactment of the Ordinance, the CPSL standards have included the following storefront window requirement codified in PMC sec. 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii):
Pacifica City Council 2
October 23, 2023
Windows and window coverings. Storefronts (front facade of the cannabis operation) shall be primarily glass with glass occupying at least forty-five (45%) percent of the entire store front and sixty (60%) percent of the horizontal length of the store. Window and door areas shall not be covered, tinted, or made opaque in any way, or obscured in any way by landscaping, floor displays, equipment, or the like.
Of the six approved cannabis retail operations in Pacifica, five have either proposed their operations in buildings that comply with the storefront window requirements or else have planned or undertaken alterations required to bring their storefronts into compliance. One operator, Seaweed Holistics, has not planned or undertaken the required storefront window alterations as required by PMC sec. 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii). Performing the required alterations was a requirement of Condition of Approval No. 9 of Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18 as set forth in Planning Commission Resolution No. 2019-031, approved by the Planning Commission on September 16, 2019. Initially required prior to commencement of operations, the Planning Commission subsequently took action on February 16, 2021, to temporarily defer compliance with COA No. 9 and another COA until after the commencement of operations (Planning Commission Resolution No. 2021-001).
On August 15, 2022, the Planning Commission conducted an annual review of Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18 in accordance with PMC section 9-4.4806(e) and COA No. 19 of Resolution No. 2019-031. The Commission determined the cannabis retail operation to be noncompliant with COA Nos. 1, 5, 6, 9, and 18. On October 3, 2022, the Planning Commission approved the revocation of Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18. On October 10, 2022, Councilmember O’Neill called-up the Planning Commission’s revocation of Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18 for City Council review pursuant to PMC section 2-1.105. On October 13, 2022, Ana Leaño-Williams of Seaweed Holistics also submitted an appeal of the Planning Commission’s revocation.
On November 14, 2022, the City Council moved to deny the appeal and revoke Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18, scheduled to take effect 14 months after November 15, 2022 (“Revocation Date”) unless the Revocation Conditions detailed in City Council Resolution No. 79-2022 (Attachment B) are satisfied prior to the Revocation Date. Revocation Condition Nos. 1, 2, and 3 required the Applicant to pay certain outstanding fees, as well as a deposit for the processing of ordinance amendments and amendments to Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18 to incorporate any revisions to the PMC related to storefront window requirements, if adopted by City Council. Revocation Condition No. 4 conditions an amendment to PMC section 4-
16.03(c)(1)(ii) in a manner which allows the Applicant to retain the current window configuration.
Revocation Condition No. 5 conditions modifications of COAs No. 9 and 18 of Planning Commission Resolution No. 2019-031 to conform to any revisions to PMC section 4-
16.03(c)(1)(ii). Revocation Condition No. 6 conditions the City and the Applicant to execute an amendment to the Deferral Agreement to conform to the revisions to PMC section 4-
16.03(c)(1)(ii) and reflect satisfaction of outstanding fees and reimbursements to the City for all costs. All actions specified by the City Council must occur no later than January 15, 2024, or else the revocation of Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18 shall take effect.
Seaweed Holistics’ Storefront and the Original Ordinance The proposed ordinance included as Attachment A, and discussed further in a later section of the staff report, relate to Revocation Condition No. 4 of City Council Resolution No. 79-2022.
The Seaweed Holistics cannabis retail operation cannot continue to operate beyond January 15, 2024, without City Council approval of an amendment to PMC sec. 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii) to authorize Seaweed Holistics’ storefront window in its currently non-compliant configuration, and without a Pacifica City Council 3
October 23, 2023
conforming amendment to Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18 by the Planning Commission.
The Seaweed Holistics storefront in it is current configuration does not comply with the requirements of PMC sec. 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii). The first floor of the storefront is 24 feet wide and 8 feet high for a total of 192 square feet (sf). The first floor of the storefront currently has a 10-foot by 6-foot window and a door with a 2’-0” by 5’-6” glass panel for a total of 71 sf of glass area and 12 feet of horizontal length. This comprises only 37 percent of the entire storefront and 50 percent of the horizontal length of the store, less than the 45 percent overall storefront (which would be 86.4 sf minimum) and 60 percent of horizontal length of the storefront (which would be 14’-3” minimum length) required by the PMC.
The regulations for cannabis storefront windows in PMC sec. 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii) were crafted with public safety in mind. The Police Chief in particular sought to address concerns about increased potential for robberies and burglaries at cannabis retail operations due to the significant number of cash transactions and the high resale value of cannabis in the illicit market. The concerns have seemed well founded as the lawful cannabis market has expanded in California. In Pacifica between January 1, 2022 and present, Pacifica Police have responded to two attempted burglaries and one successful burglary of cannabis retail operations. A suspect in the successful burglary was later apprehended by Pacifica Police and linked to a professional ring of burglars who target cannabis businesses. Across the Bay Area, law enforcement agencies are seeing increases in organized groups committing burglaries of cannabis businesses. For example, in San Francisco, a professional ring of thieves using crowbars broke into a cannabis business armed with firearms in January 2023. A store manager was kidnapped during another incident in San Francisco in February 2023. Two burglaries of cannabis businesses occurred on the same weekend in Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa in March 2023 and July 2023, respectively. Multiple subjects armed with firearms overtook a security guard and forced entry into a cannabis business in Berkeley in May 2023, the second time in several weeks the business had been targeted by thieves. During one burglary in Livermore in June 2023, the burglars were armed with assault weapons. These examples are illustrative only to provide a sample of the types of serious incidents that have occurred in the Bay Area region and are not a comprehensive accounting of burglaries/robberies of cannabis businesses in the area.
Based on these anticipated and realized concerns in other jurisdictions in the area and within Pacifica, the Police Chief continues to believe all reasonable measures including maximum visibility into cannabis retail operation storefronts should be utilized to maximize public safety and aid police responses to any incidents that may occur. Furthermore, the Police Chief does not believe reliance on video surveillance technology is a sufficient substitute for line-of-sight visibility into a cannabis operation in the event of a police response to a robbery incident, in part because of potential delays with accessing cameras inside the operation and potential technical difficulties that could occur in the midst of a time-sensitive response.
Proposed Amendments
The proposed ordinance amendment would revise the storefront window provisions in section 4-
16.03(c)(1)(ii) of Chapter 16 “Cannabis Public Safety License” of Title 4 of the PMC. The following amendments are proposed to the existing provisions of section 4-16.03(c)(1)(ii) of Chapter 16 “Cannabis Public Safety License” of Title 4 of the PMC (new text in underline, deleted text in strikethrough):
Windows and window coverings. Storefronts (exterior front facade of the cannabis operation at the first-floor level) shall be primarily glass with glass occupying at least thirty-fiveforty-five (3545%) percent of the entire store front and fifty sixty (5060%) percent of the horizontal length of the storefront. No glass area used to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall have a Pacifica City Council 4
October 23, 2023
vertical or horizontal dimension less than two (2’) feet. Window and door areas shall not be covered, tinted, or made opaque in any way, or obscured in any way by landscaping, floor displays, equipment, or the like.
In addition to amendments to address the window size requirement, the proposed amendments would also include a “clean-up” provision to clarify that the measurements are applicable only to the exterior front façade on the first-floor level, and impose a minimum vertical or horizontal dimension of not less than two feet for any window used to comply with the storefront requirements.
Staff is also recommending that because of the significant risks of criminal activity, the proposed ordinance amendments limit the applicability of the reduced storefront window requirements to the period of January 1 through June 30, 2024. This time limitation would ensure a period of applicability for Seaweed Holistics to pursue its amendment and for any other prospective or currently permitted cannabis operation to also utilize the reduced storefront window requirements.1
California Environmental Quality Act
Adoption of the proposed ordinance would be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to the “General Rule” exemption in CEQA Guidelines § 15061(b)(3)). The General Rule exemption provides that “The activity is covered by the common sense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects which 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.”
The proposed amendments would modify the storefront window requirements for cannabis operations. The modification to storefront window requirements would be limited to existing buildings or new buildings that have undergone their own environmental review prior to construction and would not have a significant effect on the environment.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
The Council may decline to introduce the proposed ordinance or direct modifications to the proposed revised storefront window standards prior to ordinance introduction. The Council could make modifications to the proposed ordinance to remove the language that would limit the applicability of the reduced storefront window requirements to the period of January 1 through June 30, 2024, prior to ordinance introduction. The removal of this recommended language would modify the storefront window requirements for all cannabis operations henceforth with a new generally applicable standard that reduces visibility into the storefronts. If the Council declines to introduce and ultimately adopt the proposed ordinance, the previously authorized revocation of Cannabis Activity Permit CAP-8-18 which authorizes operation of the Seaweed Holistics’ cannabis retail operation would take effect on January 15, 2024.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
This project is not directly associated with an item on the City Council’s 2023-2030 Strategic Plan.
1 The City has issued all six cannabis retail operation permits authorized by the PMC. There is no limit on the number of cannabis testing operation or cannabis manufacturing operation permits the City may issue, although there are no such permitted establishments at this time.
Pacifica City Council 5
October 23, 2023
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact to the City from the amendment of storefront window requirements for cannabis retail operations. Seaweed Holistics has provided a $5,000 deposit to cover processing costs associated with the amendment as required by City Council Resolution No. 79-2022.
ORIGINATED BY:
Planning Department
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment A - Draft Ordinance to amend PMC Section 4-16.03 (DOCX) Attachment B - City Council Resolution No. 79-2022 (PDF)