Supervisors continue medical cannabis dispensary rules after disability-access and delivery-service amendments

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday continued consideration of an ordinance that would amend the San Francisco Health Code and Planning Code to regulate medical cannabis dispensaries after the board adopted a disability-access amendment and set additional language for further review.

The measure, brought as Item 20 on the agenda, would require dispensaries to meet new permitting, security and accessibility standards and would extend the deadline for dispensaries to obtain a medical cannabis permit to March 1, 2008. The board accepted an amendment to require indoor bathrooms be accessible except where the Access Appeals Commission grants an unreasonable hardship, then agreed to continue the item for one week so members and affected parties could review text that narrows which parts of a dispensary must be accessible and a separate proposal to exempt delivery-only operations from some permit requirements.

The short-term change adopted by motion would delete the phrase “to the public” from a requirement that bathrooms be accessible and replace it with “except where the Access Appeals Commission grants an unreasonable hardship.” Deputy City Attorney Adams told the board that prior draft language would have required all service areas to be accessible; the narrower phrasing that had been inserted earlier—“any ground floor service area must be accessible”—would limit the requirement to first-floor…