The City Council voted 6-1 to allow commercial cannabis in Santa Monica last week. If this seems like old news, it could be because the city has debated dispensaries for more than a decade with a new round of study sessions picking up steam in the past two years.
However, the recent discussion was the first reading of an actual ordinance that vastly expands where dispensaries can operate after previously restrictive rules limited the city to just two cannabis retailers. The new law will authorize delivery permits for cannabis retailers located outside of Santa Monica and storefront permits for retailers within Santa Monica in any non-residential location permitted by state law.
The only geographic restriction will be the 600-foot buffer zones around schools, youth centers and daycare facilities mandated by the state. At the initial study session in 2023, Ajay Kolluri, the consultant hired by the city, recommended additional regulations for protecting public safety and preventing youth access. But in April 2024, the Council chose not to impose any limitations, with the exception of requiring 300 feet between marijuana dispensaries and allowing only one per city block.
Last week, staff recommended dropping these remaining requirements, saying they could delay implementation of the permit program and increase risk of litigation from applicants, and Council concurred. However, other cities in LA county have come to different conclusions. Culver City requires 1,000 feet between pot shops as does Long Beach, and both cities also require 600 feet of distance from parks and playgrounds, while Los Angeles requires 700 feet from all of the above, as well as from supportive housing and substance abuse recovery facilities.
The Santa Monica ordinance also establishes an equity program in order to address the disproportionate impact of cannabis criminalization on minority communities. Staff recommended eligibility based on drug conviction history for an applicant or family member, income at less than 80% of area median, and residency status as current or former student, resident or business owner.
However, during public comment, Justin Palmore, a social equity partner at Harvest, one of the two current dispensaries in the city, suggested that the Council was setting applicants up for failure. “If you look at the criteria for social equity that you’re low income and you’re a victim of crime, that doesn’t give you business acumen,” said Palmore, who objected to permitting more than one cannabis shop per block and recommended creating a mentorship program.
“We know that a lot of these equity programs have failed,” acknowledged Councilmember Caroline Torosis without addressing Palmore’s request to regulate the distance between retail locations.
Mayor Lana Negrete was the lone opponent of the expanded rules questioning why the city should allow multiple retailers in close proximity.
Councilmember Barry Snell also had questions over limiting the number of stores in the city.
“Have we established a limit on cannabis stores?” he asked. “Have we ever had any discussion about that?”
Council has had extensive discussions on the topic.
There was an extended discussion in 2023, at which time Councilmembers Torosis and Jesse Zwick suggested 600- to 1000-foot buffers between stores, which would have resulted in a natural cap of 25-38 in total. But in 2024 the Council instead decided on a cap of 62, and the current ordinance creates a cap of 426, though that would only be if every possible building were both available and desirable, which is highly unlikely. (Culver City with roughly half Santa Monica’s population has a cap of three, and Long Beach with about five times Santa Monica’s population has a cap of 40.) Staff has stated that demand for permits will likely be less than previously anticipated and that past limitations on dispensary locations resulted in windfalls for landlords who were able to artificially inflate rent prices.
“As much as I would love to not necessarily have one block become our “pot row,” I think in general all of these regulations that we’re talking about are sort of imagining some gold rush that, as staff has mentioned, passed us by,” said Councilmember Zwick. “The industry is bad right now. Stores are closing.”