Tempers flared to close a Solvang City Council meeting on Oct. 22 when the topic of cannabis came up on the night's agenda. The issue at hand? How many medical marijuana dispensaries should be allowed within city limits.
"I've talked to many constituents that are totally opposed to a dispensary [in town], period," Mayor Jim Richardson said before making a motion that would ban any medical pot shop from opening in Solvang. In doing so, the mayor of 10 years appeared to buck his most recent campaign promise to consider allowing medical marijuana if the voters approved recreational in November 2016.
"Jim, I do believe that on your platform [in 2016] you did say you were open to medical cannabis," Councilmember Karen Waite said after Richardson made the motion.
"I did say I would consider it," he responded, "and I've considered it and I've objected to it."
On Aug. 14, the council passed the first reading of an ordinance that allowed medical marijuana operators to open up shop in Solvang's C-3, or commercial zone, on the city's western edge. Richardson was the lone dissenter that night, calling the decision "disheartening" at the time.
"I'm of the opinion it's not for the branding of Solvang," he said that night.
It's an attitude the mayor carried into the Oct. 22 meeting, when he again voted against his peers following Councilmember Ryan Toussaint's motion to allow only one medical cannabis dispensary to operate within the designated C-3 zone. Richardson was again the sole dissenter.
He said the public opinion on cannabis in town was decidedly split, and that even though voters had approved recreational cannabis in California, the Solvang vote "was really close." Richardson also said most medically useful extracts from marijuana, like CBD, were already available in nearby health stores.
In past meetings and on Oct. 22, Richardson expressed concerns that cannabis companies would bring unwanted traffic to the area. He even questioned Solvang Planning and Economic Development Director Holly Owen about congestion issues on municipal roads when she went to inspect cannabis businesses operating in Grover Beach.
"We were there between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on a Friday–what you'd think would be a 'high time' so to speak for that kind of activity–but there was not really any in evidence," Owen said.
City Attorney Dave Fleishman added the professionalism evident from legal cannabis businesses was quite impressive and that the companies took safety measures as well as steps to minimize unwanted smells and attention.
"You wouldn't be able to tell the difference from another business walking by the outside," he said, adding at least one Grover Beach dispensary had "upgraded the surrounding neighborhood significantly" with extensive exterior landscaping. "It looks like a positive addition to the particular neighborhoods they were located in."
City staff will now begin accepting applications for the one medical dispensary it will allow. Once background checks with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office are complete, the city will then take the vetted businesses and choose only one by way of lottery.
