City Calls A Timeout on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Leaders of Rancho Santa Margarita were in a mood to buy time on Wednesday.

In its regularly scheduled meeting, the City Council supported a recommendation that put a 45-day moratorium on allowing marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city, and also decided to wait until December before it chooses a mayor pro tempore.

The latter item came at the request of councilman Jesse Petrilla.

The position has been vacant since Gary Thompson resigned in March. Though Mayor Tony Beall indicated at one point in the succeeding weeks that he would recommend Petrilla for the position as a show of good faith during a particularly contentious time between the sitting councilmen, Petrilla referenced the gesture during his comments on Wednesday and indicated that he didn’t want the title; usually, the mayor pro tem becomes the mayor the following year. 

Before allowing any discussion to take place on his item, Petrilla nominated Steve Baric for the position—something Petrilla did on his first night in office last December, as well.

Jerry Holloway had previously agendized the election of a mayor pro tem, and he questioned Petrilla as to why he voted against it at that time.

"I believe everyone wanted to give it some time and now I think the time is here," Petrilla said. "I've been back almost four months from training. We've all settled in enough to where we know each other."

Holloway indicated he still thought it was important to have a No. 2 in command in case the mayor was unavailable. "I don't disagree with what needs to occur at the last meeting in December, but I would just like to avoid anything in those next three meetings," he said. "Hope for the best."

Baric indicated he was ambivalent but was comfortable making such a selection "if that's the will of the majority of our council."

Petrilla’s motion never received a second from his colleagues. Councilwoman Carol Gamble, who succeeded Thompson on the council, made a substitute motion that the council wait until December to reorganize when it normally does; it died by a 3-2 vote, with only Beall supporting Gamble. It was a moot point, however; the council will reorganize in December anyway. The council will meet three more times before that happens.

The council has made an effort to avoid the appearance of playing politics, which was a prevalent atmosphere at the time Petrilla left for nearly four months of training in February with the California National Guard, and recently since his return. At the last meeting, Petrilla proposed setting term limits for council members, and also having the mayor elected by the residents—although under his plan, it would be an all or nothing position in which losing mayoral candidates would not have the opportunity to serve on the city council. Neither idea gained the necessary support.

There was very little discussion before unanimously passing an urgency ordinance that established a 45-day moratorium on the establishment and operation of medical marijuana dispensaries. It will allow the city to study land use issues and regulations.

The item became an issue after it was discovered that businesses were operating as medicinal marijuana dispensaries in RSM’s business park, but also because of the large number of inquiries at city hall from businesses wanting to open shop in the city.

“There are two known operating medical marijuana dispensaries that—it is the city’s position that are operating in violation of the city’s code,” explained Greg Simonian, the city attorney. “The urgency comes not only from the existence of those two, but from the numerous inquiries at the front counter and on the telephone of people that are interested in contacting the city staff and saying, ‘We’d like to open up in the city of Rancho Santa Margarita, what are your requirements?’ Now we need to freeze and maintain the status quo.”

A 45-day moratorium may also allow the city the benefit of a legal ruling regarding a city’s options.

“Cities statewide are anxiously awaiting the Fourth District Court of Appeals decision on the Anaheim case, the Lake Forest cases and Dana Point cases; these are all enforcement actions that those three cities took to keep medical marijuana dispensaries out of their cities,” Simonian said. “They all prevailed at the Superior Court level, but they are now up on appeal at the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Within this moratorium period, we may also get the benefit of an appellate decision that can provide guidance to the city of Rancho Santa Margarita and all cities as to what the cities can and can’t do with respect to these uses.”

In other business:

• The council passed a recommendation that authorizes the city manager to provide a written notice to CR&R Inc., to extend the term of the franchise agreement for integrated solid waste management services by 24 months, and authorize staff to explore and negotiate other elements of the agreement that may improve the existing franchise agreement.
• The council recognized during hometown heroes the efforts of Jeff Lewey and Danny Lisch for their life-saving actions that saved Ron Shimaji.
• Adopted a city engineer classification and salary range.