City of Sacramento
Law and Legislation Committee Report
915 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org
File ID: 2024-00968 5/21/2024 Consent Item 6.
Update on Cannabis Consumption Lounges and Cannabis Land Use File ID: 2024-00968
Location: Citywide
Recommendation: Receive and file oral reports from the Office of Cannabis Management and Planning Division on the efforts and development of cannabis consumption lounges (Title 5) and cannabis land use (Title 17) regulation.
Contact: Davina Smith, Program Manager, (916) 808-4772, [email protected]; Fiona Mattson, Program Specialist, (916) 808-8925, [email protected]; Office of Cannabis Management, Office of the City Manager; Kevin Colin, Zoning Administrator, (916) 808-5260, [email protected]; Kirk Skierski, Senior Planner, (916) 808-7933, [email protected]; Planning Division
Presenter: Davina Smith, Program Manager, (916) 808-4772, [email protected], Office of Cannabis Management, Office of the City Manager; Kirk Skierski, Senior Planner, (916) 808-7933, [email protected]; Planning Division
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail:
This item is intended to provide an oral update to the Law & Legislation Committee (Committee) on the status of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and the Planning Division’s work on the research and development of regulations for cannabis consumption lounges and cannabis land use matters.
Policy Considerations: OCM has conducted extensive outreach regarding cannabis consumption. A meeting was held on consumption lounges in December 2021 where OCM presented information on licensing limitations under state law, sought to clarify misconceptions of what consumption lounges could include, and received input on how stakeholders envisioned onsite consumption in Sacramento.
File ID: 2024-00968 5/21/2024 Consent Item 6.
On August 30, 2022, the Committee hosted a workshop with a panel of regulators from the Cities of West Hollywood, Palm Springs, and the City and County of San Francsico to discuss the consumption lounges in their jurisdictions and to answer questions around community concerns and how they were addressed, revenues and the cost of regulatory oversight, enforcement challenges, and lessons learned.
OCM hosted two community engagement meetings on cannabis consumption - a virtual meeting on April 12, 2023, and an in-person meeting on April 25, 2023. OCM also made a presentation on consumption lounges and events at the quarterly meeting of the City’s Property and Improvement Districts (PBIDs) on April 19, 2023.
After these meetings, an online survey with the same questions and options presented at the April 25, 2023 in-person meeting was sent out to cannabis stakeholders, which included permitted businesses, current and potential applicants, PBIDS, neighborhood associations, and any individual who had previously attended a stakeholder meeting or signed up for alerts for cannabis news. The list contained approximately 3,000 names and 481 responses were received. While responses varied on details, respondents were virtually unanimous in their support of expanding public cannabis consumption to either dedicated consumption lounges and/or to temporary events outside of Cal Expo.
Between October 2022 and July 2023, OCM engaged in fact-finding by meeting with regulators and visited consumption lounges in San Francisco, Oakland, Palm Springs, West Hollywood, and Coachella. OCM also spoke with the facilities’ owners or managers to find out about the challenges and benefits in operating a consumption lounge from the businesses’ perspective.
On September 19, 2023, OCM presented the information from the community and PBID meetings, the survey results, and fact-finding to the Committee. After public comment and a robust Committee discussion, the Committee directed staff to first bring back a framework for a consumption lounge pilot, and secondarily to bring forward a frame work for cannabis events outside of Cal Expo.
Planning’s work on Title 17 cannabis updates stems from the May 31, 2022, City Council meeting, where they directed the Planning and Design Commission to consider the following:
1. Review current cannabis business zoning and sensitive uses to determine if they continue to serve the purposes for which they were adopted.
2. Consider additional zones for storefront and delivery-only dispensaries and non-volatile City of Sacramento.
3. Consider storefront dispensaries as an allowed use in Residential Mixed Use (RMX) or C-3 zones.
4. Consider limiting cannabis sensitive uses to schools, youth centers, drug and alcohol treatment centers, neighborhood and community parks, and faith-based institutions.
5. Consider reviewing suitability of mixed light cannabis uses in industrial/manufacturing zones
File ID: 2024-00968 5/21/2024 Consent Item 6.
and whether new mixed light facilities should be constructed with the ability to be re-purposed.
6. Consider a zoning and permit type for cannabis research and development (R&D) facilities.
7. Consider removing distribution from the current uses subject to a district-based square footage cap."
Planning staff scheduled the Planning and Design Commission’s first hearing to discuss the Council’s requests on August 25, 2022. With the direction provided by L&L, Planning has been looking at incorporating how consumption lounges could fit into the zoning and land use requirements of Title
17. Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
Environmental Considerations: Not applicable.
Sustainability: Not applicable.
Commission/Committee Action: On September 19, 2023, the Law and Legislation committee directed the Office of Cannabis Management to develop a pilot framework for cannabis social consumption lounges. On May 31, 2022, the City Council directed the Planning and Design Commission to work on Title 17 cannabis updates and the first hearing was on August 25, 2022. With the direction provided by L&L, Planning has been looking at incorporating how consumption lounges could fit into the zoning and land use requirements of Title 17.
Rationale for Recommendation: None. This item is being submitted for informational purposes only.
Financial Considerations: None at this time. It is anticipated that the Committee will be asked to take action in the future on a cannabis consumption lounge ordinance which, if recommended by the Committee and approved by Council, would include a business operation permit fee for consumption permits and these facilities would be subject to the City’s cannabis business operations tax.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable.