HomeMy WebLinkAbout2248ORDINANCE NO. 2248
AN INTERIM URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA,
CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A MORATORIUM
ON THE ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF
MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES
PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION
65858
THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA,
DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The purpose of this Interim Urgency Ordinance is to
establish a moratorium on the establishment and operation of medical marijuana
dispensaries in the City of Arcadia ("City") to study the potential impacts of
medical marijuana dispensaries on the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of
the City.
SECTION 2. The City Council enacts this Interim Urgency Ordinance
under the authority granted to cities by Article XI, Section 7 of the California
Constitution, Section 11.362.5, et seq. of the California Health & Safety Code, and
Section 65858 of the California Government Code.
SECTION 3. The City Council of the City of Arcadia hereby finds:
A. The voters of the State of California approved Proposition 215,
entitled the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (the "Act"), the intent of which was to
enable persons in need of medical marijuana for medicinal purposes to obtain and
use it under limited, specified circumstances.
B. On January 1, 2004, SB 420 went into effect and was enacted to
clarify the scope of the Act and to allow cities and counties to adopt and enforce
rules and regulations consistent with SB 420 and the Act.
C. The Arcadia Municipal Code does not specifically address or regulate
the existence or location of medical marijuana dispensaries.
D. California cities that have permitted the establishment of medical
marijuana dispensaries have witnessed an increase in crime, such as burglaries,
robberies and sales of illegal drugs in the areas immediately surrounding such
dispensaries.
E. There is legal uncertainty between federal laws and California laws
regarding medical marijuana dispensaries. Several cities and counties have
recently filed lawsuits against the State Attorney General relating to the validity of
the Act in light of a recent Supreme Court decision, Gonzales v. Raich (2005) 125
S. Ct. 2195 (holding that the federal Controlled Substances Act validly prohibits
local cultivation and use of marijuana under all circumstances).
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SECTION 4. The purpose of this Interim Urgency Ordinance is to
establish aforty-five (45) day moratorium on the approval or issuance of any use
permit, variance, building permit, business license or other applicable entitlement
for the establishment or operation of a medical marijuana dispensary in the City for
the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and welfare.
SECTION 5. For purposes of this Interim Urgency Ordinance, the
terms defined below shall have the following meanings:
A. "Medical marijuana dispensary" shall mean any facility or location
where a primary caregiver intends to or does make available, sell, transmit, give or
otherwise provide medical marijuana to two or more of the following: a qualified
patient, a person with an identification card or a primary caregiver.
B. "Primary caregiver," "qualified patient" and "identification card" shall
have the meanings set forth in Health and Safety Code Section 11362.7.
SECTION 6. The City Council hereby enacts this Interim Urgency
Ordinance by not less than afour-fifths vote, and in light of the findings set forth in
Sections 3 and 7, under the authority granted to it by Article XI, Section 7 of the
California Constitution and Section 65858(a) of the California Government Code,
which allows the City to adopt an interim urgency ordinance, in order to protect the
public safety, health, and welfare, prohibiting any uses that may be in conflict with
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a zoning proposal that the City Council, planning commission or the planning
department is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time.
SECTION 7. The City Council hereby finds and determines as follows:
A. California cities that have permitted the establishment of medical
marijuana dispensaries have found that such dispensaries resulted in negative and
harmful secondary effects, such as an increase in crime, including robberies,
burglaries and sales of illegal drugs in the areas immediately surrounding medical
marijuana dispensaries.
B. Numerous cities in the State of California have adopted ordinances
prohibiting or regulating such dispensaries. As a significant number of cities,
including cities in Southern California, have prohibited or regulated medical
marijuana dispensaries, there is a substantially increased likelihood that such
establishments will seek to locate in the City of Arcadia.
C. The Arcadia Municipal Code does not specifically address or regulate
the existence or location of medical marijuana dispensaries.
D. The United States Supreme Court addressed marijuana use in
California in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (2001) 532
U.S. 483. The Supreme Court held that the federal Controlled Substances Act
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continues to prohibit marijuana use, distribution and possession and that no
medical necessity exception exists to these prohibitions. Further, the Supreme
Court recently held in Gonzales v. Raich (2005) 545 U.S. 1, that the federal
Controlled Substances Act prohibits local cultivation and use of marijuana under
all circumstances. Therefore, it appears there is currently a conflict between
federal laws and California laws regarding the legality of medical marijuana
dispensaries.
E. To address the apparent conflict in laws, as well as the community
and statewide concerns regarding Che establishment of medical marijuana
dispensaries, it is necessary for the City of Arcadia to study the potential impacts
such facilities may have on the public health, safety and welfare.
F. Based on the foregoing, the City Council finds that issuing permits,
business licenses or other applicable entitlements providing for the establishment
and/or operation of medical marijuana dispensaries, prior to the completion of the
City of Arcadia's study of the potential impact of such facilities, poses a current
and immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare and that, therefore, a
temporary moratorium on the issuance of such permits, licenses and entitlements is
necessary.
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SECTION 8. The City Council hereby directs the Development
Services Department to consider and study possible means of regulating or
prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries, including zoning-based regulations
and other regulations.
SECTION 9. The City Council finds that this Interim Urgency
Ordinance is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or
reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and
15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA
Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no
potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly.
SECTION 10. If any provision of this Interim Urgency Ordinance or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity
shall not affect other provisions or applications of the Ordinance which can be
given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the
provisions of this ordinance are severable. The City Council hereby declares that it
would have adopted this Ordinance irrespective of the invalidity of any particular
portion thereof.
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SECTION 11. This Interim Urgency Ordinance shall take effect
immediately upon its adoption by at least afour-fifths vote of the City Council.
This Interim Urgency Ordinance shall continue in effect for forty-five (45) days
from the date of its adoption and shall thereafter be of no further force and effect
unless, after notice and a hearing pursuant to California Government Code Section
65090, the City Council extends this Interim Urgency Ordinance pursuant to
Govemment Code Section 65858.
SECTION 12. The City Clerk shall certify the adoption of this Interim
Urgency Ordinance and shall cause the same or a summary thereof to be published
within fifteen (15) days after adoption in a newspaper of general. circulation.
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Passed, approved and adopted this 16th day of September, 2008.
~~ s~~
Mayor of the City of Arcadia
ATTEST:
~~ L ~~
ity Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORI~1:
Stephen P. Deitsch
City Attorney
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STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES) SS:
CITY OF ARCADIA )
I, JAMES H. BARROWS, City Clerk of the City of Arcadia, hereby certifies
that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2248 was passed and adopted by the City Council
of the City of Arcadia, signed by the Mayor and attested to by the City Clerk at a
regular meeting of said Council held on the 16th day of September, 2008 and that said
Ordinance was adopted by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: Council Member Amundson, Chandler, Kovacic, Wuo and Harbicht
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
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ity Clerk of the City of Arcadia
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