Costa Mesa council to discuss putting own marijuana issue on ballot
The city of Costa Mesa will consider placing its own medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot.
Costa Mesa City Council members will discuss next week whether to place their own medical marijuana initiative on November’s ballot, where it would compete against two citizen-backed measures.
The proposed city measure would require businesses to obtain permits to “engage in wholesale distribution, manufacturing, testing, research and development and transportation of medical marijuana,” according to a city staff report.
Medical marijuana businesses would only be allowed in the manufacturing zone north of South Coast Drive and west of Harbor Boulevard, a wide area that includes Whittier College’s law school campus and business parks off Hyland Avenue.
The city’s initiative would also levy a 6% tax on medical marijuana businesses.
Medical marijuana dispensaries have been banned in the city since 2005. Cultivation is also currently prohibited.
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The citizen measures would permit a small number of dispensaries — either four or eight — to open in Costa Mesa. The city’s law does not appear to cap how many dispensaries could be in the specified zone north of the 405 Freeway.
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer outlined the general provisions of the city’s initiative during the April 19 council meeting. He said at the time his goal was to come up with a measure that could beat the citizen-backed ones already on the Nov. 8 ballot.
“What I was looking at is, ‘How do we get it to be the highest vote-getter so that we have the opportunity to have an ordinance so we control our future?’” he said. “If we let the other two win, we’re dead.”
Should multiple medical marijuana initiatives pass in November, the one that receives the most votes would become law.
It would cost an estimated $10,000 for the city to place the initiative on the ballot.
Tuesday’s council meeting begins at 5:45 p.m. in City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.
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Luke Money, lucas.money@latimes.com
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
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