COSTA MESA, Calif.—Planning commissioners approved a conditional use permit April 11 for a local attorney to open and operate a new cannabis delivery service.
The permit is only one of several hurdles Winter Greens needs to begin operations within the city’s designated “Green Zone,” a district that allows the manufacturing and distribution of cannabis.
The company, which already operates in Truckee, Calif., near Lake Tahoe, still needs a state license and a city business license before opening.
If all are granted, Winter Greens would not be a retail store. Instead, about 10 drivers would deliver cannabis products—such as cannabis flower, pre-rolls, edibles, concentrates, topicals, and more—to customers in the region.
“I’m really pleased to see this moving forward,” Commissioner Dianne Russell said.
If approved, the company would not be the first delivery cannabis business in the city. Costa Mesa currently allows for retail sales by manufacturers and distributors of recreational marijuana.
Some existing cannabis manufacturing companies in the city have already received approval to sell products as non-store front, delivery only, according to Commissioner Jon Zich, vice-chair of the planning commission.
The city has received more than 60 applications for retail dispensaries, which are expected to begin coming before the commission for approval in the next month at a rate of two or three per meeting, Zich told The Epoch Times.
Winter Greens will not be open to the public and nothing will be manufactured there, according to owner Todd Winter, a Costa Mesa attorney who helps clients navigate the cannabis industry.
Drivers are allowed to carry up to $2,000 in purchased cannabis goods and an additional $3,000 worth of additional cannabis product in their delivery vehicles.
Customers will be alerted via text message that a nearby delivery driver had goods to purchase. They could then place orders online for quick delivery.
The delivery system caused some concerns about safety among planning commissioners.
“It’s just a general concern that I have,” Commission Chair Byron de Arakal said. “Until the government allows transactions to happen other than in cash there’s going to be a lot of targets out there and I worry about that.”
Cannabis delivery services located in Santa Ana already serve Costa Mesa residents, and apparently without incident, Zich said, and delivery drivers are not going to be selling from their cars, but only delivering product which has been ordered via phone or website by registered customers.
Only registered customers of Winter Greens will be able to receive delivered orders.
The company will allow payment using a text-to-pay option, which will cut down on the amount of cash drivers have in their cars, Winter said.
Additionally, about 20 surveillance cameras and a security system will be installed at the warehouse site, he said.
“We love Costa Mesa and we want to help make it a great place,” Winter said. “We’re good stewards of this industry.”
Costa Mesa voters approved Measure X in 2016, allowing for medical cannabis, manufacturing, packaging and other uses in the industrial park and planned development industrial zones north of South Coast Drive and west Harbor Boulevard. This area is now dubbed the “Green Zone.”
Two years later, California legalized the sale of recreational cannabis and the city adopted a law to allow legal cannabis uses in the zone.
In 2020, the city adopted regulations to permit cannabis dispensaries and storefront retail delivery within the city.
