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Board adopts revisions to cannabis ordinance, creates merit‑based selection process for up to two dispensaries
Summary
After public hearings and Planning Commission recommendations, the Board adopted amendments allowing certain cannabis activities in industrial zones, a limited program for temporary cannabis events, and a competitive committee process to select up to two retail dispensaries in unincorporated Soda Springs and North San Juan; the Board struck proposed mandatory property‑tax conditions and declined to enact a voluntary cannabis exclusion combining district.
After several months of public outreach and four community meetings, planning staff presented a package of draft amendments to the county’s commercial cannabis regulations. The ordinance changes that the Board adopted include: allowing indoor cultivation, testing laboratories and both volatile and non‑volatile manufacturing in some M‑1 industrial zones (subject to zoning controls including odor control, setbacks and parking); authorizing temporary, one‑day cannabis events (up to eight per year, per property) in select rural centers such as North San Juan with setback limits; and creating a competitive, merit‑based selection process for a maximum of two retail dispensaries in the unincorporated county (one in Soda Springs, one in North San Juan) chosen by a seven‑member evaluation committee appointed by supervisors.
Planning Director Brian Foss and Cannabis & Code Compliance Director Matt Kelly described the proposed evaluation committee and selection process: each supervisor would appoint a committee member (Districts 4 and 5 would each appoint two members because dispensaries are proposed there), the committee would publicly score applications on merit categories such as operations, security, community engagement and compliance history, and the top‑scored applicant would be invited to apply for a discretionary use permit and proceed through the normal planning review. The Board revised staff language to ensure the committee’s final scoring criteria would be ratified by the Board before the initial competitive application period opens.
The Planning Commission recommended several edits, including removing a requirement that cannabis operations occupy standalone buildings in industrial zones and striking a proposed requirement that all property taxes be paid before issuing cannabis permits; the Board adopted the ordinance with those Planning Commission recommendations, and separately approved the resolution establishing the competitive application and committee (with language requiring the Board to ratify selection criteria prior to opening applications).
The decision drew extensive public comment from licensed cannabis farmers and industry groups urging fewer constraints (arguing cannabis should be treated as agriculture) and from residents and local civic groups concerned about neighborhood impacts. The Board adopted the ordinance amendment and the committee resolution by roll call votes.
What's next: County staff will post a selection committee appointment process, the Board will ratify final scoring criteria before the county opens the initial application period, and any selected applicants will then apply for use permits subject to Planning Commission and appeal processes.
