Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Medical Cannabis District4 topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee extends interim zoning controls for medical cannabis dispensaries in parts of District 4
Summary
Supervisors voted to forward a six-month extension of interim zoning controls that restore conditional-use requirements for medical cannabis dispensaries in several District 4 neighborhood commercial corridors while permanent planning code fixes are prepared; sponsors and members asked for more outreach to cannabis advocates and small-business stakeholders.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee recommended extending interim zoning controls that require conditional-use authorization for medical cannabis dispensaries (MCDs) in Irving, Judah, Noriega and Taraval corridors in District 4. Supervisor Katy Tang, the item’s sponsor, said the controls are intended to restore preexisting neighborhood notification and "necessary and desirable" review criteria that a Planning Department code cleanup had inadvertently removed from the code.
Tang said the interim control does not intend to prohibit dispensaries but to provide neighborhood notification and an appeals process. Aaron Starr of the Planning Department clarified that medical dispensaries had been treated as "active ground-floor uses" in prior code language and that Tang’s changes are separate from the city’s adult-use (Prop 64) planning work, which the legalization task force is charged to address.
Public comment came from long-time patient advocate Terrence Allen, who urged that the cannabis community be included in any rulemaking and warned that added cost and procedural barriers could lock out disadvantaged entrants to the industry. Multiple supervisors agreed on the value of neighborhood notification but emphasized that a citywide approach to adult-use regulation should not be piecemeal. Supervisor Aaron Peskin moved to send the matter to the full Board with the committee’s recommendation; the motion passed without objection.
The committee requested greater outreach to affected small businesses and cannabis stakeholders as the permanent planning code fix is prepared and noted the legalization task force should be treated as a stakeholder in the citywide reform process.
