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Santee council approves community benefit agreements for four cannabis retailers; fees rise to 8% by year three
Summary
Council approved four negotiated community benefit agreements requiring increasing community-benefit fees (7% first year, 7.5% second year, 8% third year), a 1% annual community investment of gross receipts to Santee programs and parking/advertising controls; actions were filed as CEQA-exempt by staff.
The City Council unanimously approved community benefit agreements with the four previously selected retail cannabis operators at its Aug. 27 meeting. Each operator agreed to an escalating community benefit fee tied to gross receipts (7% in year one, 7.5% in year two and 8% in year three) and a separate annual community investment equal to at least 1% of gross receipts that must be directed to Santee programs.
Staff said agreements will let each operator propose the recipients of their community investments, notify the city manager in advance and then submit annual accounting to confirm where the funds were spent; the city manager will review investments for appropriateness. The agreements also include parking-management obligations (with a city option to require a formal parking-management plan if on-site issues affect traffic flow) and a prohibition on unsolicited flyer distribution and materials left on parked cars.
Staff also brought notices of exemption under CEQA (the staff report cited CEQA Guidelines section 15303 as the basis for exemption) and asked the council to find the approvals were exempt from further environmental review. Council voted to approve the notices of exemption and authorized the city manager to sign the agreements with the entities named in the staff report.
Council members described the arrangements as a tool to ensure the new businesses invest in local priorities such as youth, seniors, homelessness services and parks. Staff said operators will submit accounting within 90 days of each calendar year’s end to verify investments met the committed values.
The vote was unanimous.
