Planning commission backs 1,000-foot separation between cannabis retailers, affirms other zoning refinements

The Redondo Beach Planning Commission voted Feb. 3 to recommend preserving a 1,000-foot separation between cannabis retailers while forwarding other recommended changes to the city's cannabis zoning and regulatory ordinances to the City Council.

The vote came after a two-hour public hearing and staff presentation on draft amendments to Title 10 (zoning and land use) and the coastal land-use implementing ordinance that would update definitions, clarify allowable activities (storefront retail and retail delivery), and adjust some buffers, including a council-proposed small exclusion near Dale Page Park. Elizabeth Haas, the city's community services director, told the commission the proposed redlines grew out of council direction and staff review and are intended to make the existing ordinances clearer and consistent with state law and council policy.

Commissioners and public speakers focused most of their attention on separation rules for retail dispensaries and on delivery regulations. Several residents urged limits near neighborhood parks and on concentrations along Artesia Boulevard. Jim Mueller, a District 5 resident, said the city faces "more and more multifamily, more population density" and warned of…