The Huntington Beach City Council moved one step closer to lifting the citywide ban on cannabis businesses on Nov. 15.
The council voted 4–1 in favor of continuing discussions on the topic, with councilman Erik Peterson and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Posey opposed and Mayor Kim Carr absent.
The current council majority—excluding Peterson and Posey—voted in favor of putting a measure that would tax cannabis businesses in the city, should it ever be legalized, on the ballot in the June Primary—which failed to get enough votes. They again put it on the November ballot and it is currently winning 54.65 percent to 45.35 percent, as of Nov. 18
They maintain that legalizing retail cannabis would deprive the appearance of illicit businesses in the city.
“I’d like to retain as much control as we can,” Councilwoman Rhonda Bolton said during the meeting. “I’ve seen posts on social media trying to scare people that [cannabis businesses] are going to be everywhere, and I think it goes to show that we have been very conservative limiting [the number of retail stores allowed in the city] to 10.”
But Posey refuted that its legalization would drive out the illegal market.
“To legalize it is to compete with illicit, but we’re adding taxes and fees on top of that, which makes the legal businesses less competitive, which doesn’t necessarily drive out the illicit businesses,” Posey said at the meeting. “We heard that from Gov. [Gavin] Newsom just a few months ago about looking and revisiting state taxes because illicit businesses were thriving in the face of having legal businesses.”
Proposition 64 legalized the cultivation and use of cannabis products in California in 2016 for people ages 21 and older. This law also provided state guidelines for how legal cannabis can be sold, regulated, licensed, and taxed.
The law allowed cities to decide whether they want to allow and regulate cannabis businesses.
State law requires a city’s cannabis businesses to have at least a 600-foot buffer between schools, parks, and other areas around children.
The city council is discussing having a 1,000-foot buffer between such businesses and K–12 schools and a 600-foot buffer between parks, and daycare and youth centers.
The council also discussed limiting retail stores in the city to 10.
Councilors also considered banning these businesses from certain areas near the beachfront.
The city will discuss this issue with the public at two future meetings before final approval, which will be decided in Spring 2023.
