The Crescent City Council has moved closer to drafting a commercial cannabis regulations ordinance.Specifically, councilors clarified their preferences on buffer distances between sensitive areas likes schools and cannabis retailers, with no need for a buffer surrounding the Del Norte County Fairgrounds.Working with Gary Reese of SHN Consulting Engineers & Geologists, city staff refined the draft ordinance after guidance last month from the council.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');Reese provided several versions of maps from the city’s Planning Commission of four recommended areas for cannabis use:— C2: General Commercial District, primarily along U.S. Highway 101— Highway Service District: the area you see when you enter the city from the south— C1: Downtown Business District— B1: Commercial WaterfrontAt question is how much of those zoning districts would be eliminated for available space to cannabis businesses when mandated buffer zones are implemented from nearby schools, youth centers and daycares.A state-recommended 1,000-foot buffer nearly eliminated all available space within the city. A more relaxed buffer of 600 feet left a wider selection of potential locations.Reese reminded council members that one of the most important issues they wanted answered last month was did the state mandate require setbacks be measured from property line to property line?“I determined local jurisdictions do have the ability to do reduced setbacks. You can even do no setbacks for certain cannabis uses, a reduced setback in various situations, or you can allow exceptions to setback requirements.“There are a lot of things you can do if you felt that was appropriate,” Reese said.He said these are primarily applied to uses regulated by the Bureau of Cannabis Control, which includes dispensaries, use distribution, testing laboratories, and the Department of Public Health, which includes manufacturing.In the interim time between meetings, Reese joined members of the council and city staff on visits to some cannabis businesses in Eureka to see its ordinance in operation.He noted Crescent City can reduce its setback by types of uses from the state requirement of 1,000 feet.“For example, when we met with the folks in Eureka, they didn’t recommend setbacks for manufacturing, distribution and testing laboratories, as they think those uses are more discreet. They don’t have the same impacts that potentially a dispensary would.”After much discussion, council members decided to have no setback requirement for the fairgrounds, where one building was in question currently home to periodic arts and crafts activities.Council member Alex Fallman said he wasn’t clear if the state code measured setbacks from one specific site on a parcel, or from the property line of the entire parcel.Reese said the way it’s defined in government code is from property line to property line.“We found through local ordinance you could require any setbacks you want,” he said.Fallman pushed back on “setbacks of whatever you want. It sounded like if we wanted it to be 599 to 0 feet, that would be permissible,” he questioned.Reese said that indeed was his understanding in talking with the Bureau of Cannabis Control. “I asked some very pointed questions of how much you can push that.“Can it be on a school property? Would you issue a license for that? Could it have no setback? All the various versions that could play out.“They said they give a lot of discretion to local jurisdictions on this. None have pushed it that far yet.“They have yet to have a jurisdiction reduce a setback significantly, then not issue a license,” he explained.In the end, the council was unanimous that the fairgrounds did not need a setback. The council was also unanimous in removing a setback requirement between cannabis retailers.“For all the cultivation-type businesses, I don’t see a need to have a setback between them, either,” Fallman explained his thinking. “If anything, it would be beneficial to have those industries clustered together.”However, they achieved only a consensus that setbacks should be 600 feet from established “brick and mortar” schools. Council member Jason Greenough was the only holdout, preferring a 1,000-foot setback between cannabis businesses and schools.Reese said city staff further clarified that the ordinance would require cannabis cultivation to be indoors only. And the city would prohibit both the onsite consumption of cannabis and the creation of drive-through retail sales.That left a consensus backing a 600-foot setback for daycare centers and youth centers. The staff’s map showed enough options remained to apply for a cannabis retail location under this scenario.Reese was able to clarify the impact of two such locations: the Research Child Care Council at 212 K St., and Coastal Connections at 475 K St.Last month, the city council wanted to know what activities happen there and would they be considered a sensitive, land-use area?“We determined that Coastal Connections seems to function as a youth center. They apparently don’t get a lot of folks there, but they do offer youth center-type services for folks that are 14 to 25 years of age,” Reese said.“The Child Care Council does have kids there throughout the week for supervised visitation, that type of thing, but it may not meet the definition of sensitive land-use designation the state uses.”There was also a small property at the entrance to downtown that’s flagged on the city map, at 1111 2nd St. Reese determined it was included on the list of properties requiring setbacks, because it contains the Wolf Creek Outdoor School within the Redwood National and State Park Headquarters.He said the school is actually in Humboldt County, and that Crescent City has only administrative services for the school. So, city staff removed the building from the mapping.“However, most of the area would still fall within a 600-foot buffer due to the Child Care Council, which is directly across the street,” he added.Greenough was curious about adding security-measure requirements in the ordinance, such as “sally port” doors on opposite ends of the building. “Meaning that when one person goes through the front door, that door closes, and the person can be screened before they go on to the next section,” Greenough explained.“When we visited a manufacturing facility in Humboldt, that was one thing they had there that I was really impressed with.”Reese said a “capture room” was not addressed specifically, but the city’s ordinance does require that general areas be accessible by authorized personnel only.Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin lobbied for the extra security door idea, especially within manufacturing and laboratory facilities. “I highly encourage a sally port or extra security entrance.“A large portion of what happens down south are dope rip-offs or armed robberies. A system like that would highly discourage that,” Griffin said.In the end, the city council wanted further clarification as to how youth centers and child care centers looked on the staff map with a 600-foot setback.Also, it wanted county officials to further clarify the operations at Coastal Connections and if they fit within sensitive use. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });