Some parts of Grover Beach may become a lot more green as the city gets closer to opening two cannabis dispensaries.
Just getting the ball rolling in the application process took some organizations out of the running however, as each application was $8,100.
“We felt it was an appropriate amount given the staff time [it takes to review all the applications] and that it would also allow us to really have the applicants that were the most serious and most able to comply with our regulations,” City Manager Matthew Bronson explains.
A lot goes into the proposals the cannabis businesses are creating, some of these future dispensaries could range in size or even usage of their space depending on what the business wants to do.
“Because the state of California is moving towards allowing different uses that are located together, such as a manufacturing facility on one side and perhaps they do a testing lab on another side and a retail dispensary in the front, that could indeed be a scenario that we see here in Grover Beach as well,” Bronson says.
Not everyone in the cannabis industry is on board with how these plans are going.
We spoke to one medical cannabis delivery service, Ethnobotanica, who currently operates across the Central Coast and were heavily involved in weighing in on where dispensaries should go in the city.
They recently pulled out of the process that they say was rushed, Community Relations Director Adam Pinterits tells us: “The suitability of zoning for patient access and mitigated congestion appeared secondary to expedience. We are concerned the lack of parking and poor quality of sidewalk access in the approved zones could pose a danger to patients, especially the elderly and those with mobility challenges.”
The city says however they will try to work alongside businesses to get those problems figured out.
“One of the opportunities that the city sees is the chance to upgrade this area over time through the businesses that are coming in so we will be working with the businesses, making sure they assist in the infrastructure in improvements, take care of the improvements they have to meet in order to meet our development standards,” Bronson tells us.
For now the city will be working on narrowing down the competition.They will have an update on September 5th with all of their findings and possibly even which two proposals will be moving forward.
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