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Board committee advances Supervisor Safaie’s proposal to cap medical cannabis dispensaries in District 11
Summary
A San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use committee advanced an ordinance to limit medical cannabis dispensaries in District 11 to three, with the sponsor saying the cap targets neighborhood impacts while advisory bodies urged a citywide regulatory approach.
Supervisor Shahid Safaie’s ordinance to limit medical cannabis dispensaries (MCDs) in Supervisorial District 11 moved forward from the Land Use Committee on Aug. 31, 2017, after residents, the police captain for Ingleside and neighborhood merchants described traffic, parking and public-safety concerns near several dispensaries.
Safaie, the ordinance sponsor, told the committee the measure is aimed at stabilizing a commercial corridor he said “has the highest rate of vacancies and empty storefronts in any other part of San Francisco.” He said District 11 already has five dispensaries serving the area and that the measure would “limit the number permanently of MCDs in our district that are currently operating,” while emphasizing the item is “not intended to be…an outright ban on MCDs.”
The committee heard mixed testimony. The Small Business Commission, which reviewed the item July 10, recommended against approval, saying a district-by-district cap risks locking in current operators and that the city should weigh forthcoming state adult-use regulations before creating local caps. A Small Business Commission representative told the committee the commission’s concern included that “an outright ban…means that the current operators who are there definitely stay in business” and that limiting new entrants could reduce market pressure to change problematic behavior.
By contrast, local merchants and neighborhood groups described repeat problems near dispensaries on the Mission Street and Geneva corridors. A police captain identifying himself as the Ingleside captain told the committee he receives weekly complaints about double parking, drivers blocking driveways and people smoking on doorsteps, and said his district contains eight MCDs, three of which serve District 11. Community groups including the New Mission Terrace Improvement Association and Outer Mission Merchants and Residents Association urged the Board to act to support economic revitalization of the corridor.
Dogpatch Business Association president Mark Dwight urged caution, saying the ordinance “is not a conversation starter, but as a conversation ban on medical cannabis in this city,” and argued that problems with individual operators could be addressed by other legislative tools and that a cap may be premature before state rules are finalized.
Planning staff and the Planning Commission said they supported the ordinance’s stated intent to preserve neighborhood character but recommended a citywide approach and proposed an interim moratorium on new MCD approvals until city regulations are developed in concert with forthcoming state adult-use rules. The planning representative noted concerns about geographic equity in distribution of dispensaries if the city acts district by district.
After public comment and supervisor discussion about timing and the need for future fine-tuning, the committee took a motion to forward Item 4 as a committee report with a positive recommendation to the full Board for the Sept. 5 meeting. The motion was made by Supervisor Katie Tang and taken without objection.
The full Board will consider the ordinance at its Sept. 5 meeting, where the district cap, any technical amendments and possible citywide regulatory implications are likely to be debated further.
