Pot Dispensaries Could Be Coming to Santa Monica

Medical marijuana dispensaries may be coming to Santa Monica, according to the Draft Zoning Ordinance released Nov. 12.

The draft ordinance would allow a maximum of two dispensaries no larger than 2,500 square feet in the Healthcare District — the area surrounding UCLA Medical Center Santa Monica and Saint John’s Health Center — and would prohibit any dispensaries within 500 feet of schools, parks, libraries, daycare centers and 1,000 feet of another dispensary.

The Planning Commission will discuss the issue at six meetings starting on Dec. 11 through Feb. 5, after which it will go to the city council for review and discussion.

City planner Paul Foley told the Santa Monica Daily Press the zoning proposal was based off other cities with dispensary zoning codes, especially West Hollywood.

“It’s the same kind of city in some ways,” he told the Daily Press. “We thought that was a good city to look at, to take some things from them, and put our own stuff in.”

Santa Monica Mayor Pam O’Connor told NBC4 Santa Monica doesn’t need dispensaries since plenty are readily available in Venice, less than a mile away.

The City Council has been sharply divided on the issue, voting three times to place a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city to allow city staff to study the issue since the city can’t outright ban them. But the hard stance maybe softening, the latest vote to extend the moratorium in August was close, 4-3 with Councilman Bob Holbrook, Mayor Pro Temp Terry O’Day and O’Connor opposing.

Read more:

• Do You Want Pot Shops in Santa Monica? 
• Santa Monica Extends Pot Shop Moratorium
  
• Santa Monica Says No Permits for Pot Shops
• Pot Shops Eager to Enter Santa Monica