Medical cannabis grow sites are now almost legal in West Berkeley

[yuiyoshida]

Grow, baby, grow. The Berkeley City Council has finally set criteria for the medical cannabis grow houses voters approved in 2010.

The city expects to collect $650,000 to $1.3 million each year in tax revenue related to cultivation in West Berkeley, staff has estimated. Officials voted July 11, among other criteria, to prioritize local growers and cooperatives who come “from populations or groups that… have been disproportionately targeted for enforcement, criminalization, and/or incarceration related to marijuana offenses.”

In November 2010, voters approved Measure T, which set a limit of six cultivation “locations,” up to 30,000 square feet each, for a total of 180,000 square feet. Changes at the state level in 2015 required Berkeley to cap the maximum size at 22,000 square feet, according to staff. When officials made that change, in February 2016, they also struck out the six-site quota while reaffirming the overall square footage voters approved. Then, in January, they established regulations for cultivation facilities. Unlike dispensaries, cultivators have neither retail sales or public access.

Once final language is approved, six cultivators will be able to seek permits that allow them each to span 15,000-22,000 square feet. The remainder of the licenses, and square feet, will go to smaller cultivators and cooperatives. Downtown Berkeley Councilwoman Kate Harrison, whose proposal won the night, said she didn’t expect more than perhaps 10 small operators to divvy up that balance.

“We’re not talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of businesses,” she said. “I feel like this has been a bit exaggerated.”

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http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/07/24/medical-cannabis-grow-sites-now-almost-legal-west-berkeley/