FCPG recommends 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. restriction for cannabis facilities

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

A recommendation to limit hours of cannabis facilities to between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. received the necessary eight votes to be an official recommendation of the Fallbrook Community Planning Group.

A majority of the full board, or eight votes, is necessary for a motion to pass. Eight members of the planning group voted in favor of the recommendation Nov. 15, five were opposed, and two members could not participate in the meeting.

A 4-1 San Diego County Board of Supervisors vote Jan. 27, with Jim Desmond opposed, directed the development of Zoning Ordinance and Regulatory Code amendments which would repeal the existing ordinance restricting medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries and cultivation, allow the sale of edible and drinkable as well as smokable cannabis products, allow cannabis retail sales in areas with commercial and industrial zoning, allow cannabis cultivation in agriculturally-zoned areas, allow cannabis product manufacturing, distribution, and testing in industrial-zoned areas, allow for a cannabis microbusiness license in areas with agricultural, commercial, or industrial zoning.

The amendments would also create a "social equity" program which gives individuals with past cannabis arrests and those in "disproportionately impacted areas" greater opportunities to secure an operating permit, allow for on-site consumption of cannabis products at specified cannabis facilities and permitted events, reduce the separation requirements for a dispensary, require a "labor peace agreement" with a labor union for every 10th employee at a cannabis facility, seek grant funding to implement the social equity program, and exclude cannabis from the medical pre-screening process for county employees.

The planning group's Ad Hoc Cannabis Ordinance Committee was created at the Feb. 15 planning group meeting. The committee reviews various elements of the proposed revised ordinance. For the Nov. 8 ad hoc committee meeting, “We tried to focus on enforcement and revenue,” said ad hoc committee chair and planning group member Kim Murphy.

Only a majority vote rather than a majority for a full committee is needed to send a recommendation to the planning group. “If we can’t reach consensus on what we’re doing, how can we bring it to the whole group?” Murphy said.

No recommendation regarding revenue or enforcement had that majority. The hours of operation had not been scheduled for discussion at that meeting, but a recommendation was made. “There was no discussion about it,” Murphy said.

Eight members of the ad hoc committee participated Nov. 8. Four voted in favor of restricting hours to between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., three opposed the recommendation, and one member abstained.

The lack of a discussion and corresponding information at the committee led to similar reduced discussion opportunities at the planning group meeting especially since, for the fifth consecutive month, the regular meeting lasted more than three hours.

“I didn’t feel like we had any discussion about it,” Murphy said. “I felt like we should have discussed it at greater length.”

The 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. timeframe is based on hours restrictions for existing dispensaries which are grandfathered. Murphy voted against the recommendation at the planning group. “I didn’t necessarily feel that was right for Fallbrook,” she said.

Planning group member Stephani Baxter also doubts that a dispensary in Fallbrook needs to be open for 12 hours in a day. “Eight a.m. to eight p.m. seems a little long for me,” she said.