Santa Barbara County officials will host six virtual community meetings next month to receive feedback and answer questions about amended regulations for cannabis retail storefront licensing.
On Jan. 14, the board adopted an ordinance to amend the licensing, known as Chapter 50, which established a merit-based criteria scoring system for applicants seeking a cannabis retail storefront license. The ordinance became operational Feb. 13, said Gina DePinto, county spokeswoman.
According to the ordinance, the process will begin with community engagement meetings to gather input from the community plan areas where storefront retail is allowed.
Chapter 50 limits the number of storefront retail licenses to no more than one in each of six community plan areas. County staff is seeking feedback about the business application criteria, not the applicants or specific sites, and neighborhood compatibility of the retail storefront application.
Community meetings were scheduled to begin in April but were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
To prevent further delay, the county is hosting six virtual meetings to provide opportunities for the public to provide feedback. Spanish interpretation will be offered at each meeting.
Staff from the County Executive Office and Planning & Development will be present at each meeting to provide an overview of the cannabis business licensing and permitting process, followed by an overview of the Community Plan Area.
The meetings are scheduled as follows: 5:30 p.m. July 1, Isla Vista CPA; 5:30 p.m. July 2, Santa Ynez CPA; 5:30 p.m. July 8, Toro Canyon and Summerland CPAs; 5:30 p.m. July 9, Orcutt CPA; 5:30 p.m. July 15, eastern Goleta Valley CPA; 5:30 p.m. July 16, Los Alamos CPA.
For more information, visit cannabis.countyofsb.org/retail.sbc.
