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A. This section is intended to establish a method for the determination of the maximum number of commercial cannabis businesses that may be issued Commercial Cannabis Permits to operate in the City under each category of commercial cannabis business type. The City Council may establish further policies and procedures by minute order, ordinance or resolution regarding processes and procedures for processing and selecting of permits.
B. Nothing in this chapter creates a mandate, right, obligation, or expectation that the City must, will or shall authorize any or all of the permits available at any time, increase the number of permits available, or issue a permit to a commercial cannabis business that submits an application to the City if it is determined that it is in the best interest of the City to not authorize such in the City, or if an applicant does not meet the standards established in the application requirements or further amendments to the application process. There is no guarantee that the City will authorize any commercial cannabis business to operate in the City.
C. The number of retailer-storefront permits shall be determined by population density of the City of Chico. For every 25,000 residents of the City, based on the most recent Population Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State, conducted by the California Department of Finance, the City Council may authorize up to one retailer-storefront permit. The City Council shall from time to time, at its sole and absolute discretion, establish by resolution the number of retailer-storefront permits authorized for commercial cannabis businesses based on this formula.
D. No more than the number of cannabis retailers initially authorized herein to operate or as amended by resolution may operate within the City of Chico at any one time and shall be issued a permit by the City of Chico. At the time of the passage of this chapter, the maximum number of commercial cannabis businesses per classification citywide are as follows:
Retailer-Storefront - Four (4)
Retailer-Non-Storefront - No maximum
Testing laboratory - No maximum
Manufacturing - No maximum
Distribution - No maximum
E. Each year following the initial award of permits, if any, or at any time in the City Council’s discretion, the City Council may reassess the number of Commercial Cannabis Permits which are authorized for issuance. The City Council, in its discretion, may determine by resolution that the number of Commercial Cannabis Permits should remain the same, be reduced, or be increased.
F. A person may only have an ownership interest in one (1) retailer-storefront business in the City of Chico. Any person with community property rights of an ownership interest is considered a person with ownership interest in this section.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2)
A. All commercial cannabis businesses shall be located in an approved land use designation area as identified under Title 19.75.
B. No retailer-storefront commercial cannabis business shall be located within 1000' feet of another retailer-storefront commercial cannabis business. In the event that two or more applications for commercial cannabis retailer-storefront uses are submitted and are under consideration simultaneously for locations within 1000' of each other, all applications may continue to be considered until final award of Commercial Cannabis Permit and use permit. However, final award of use permit by Planning Commission may not allow retailer-storefront uses to be located within 1000' of each other.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2)
Each Commercial Cannabis Permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall expire one (1) year after the date of its issuance. The City Council shall establish by resolution procedures for the renewal, revocation, and suspension of Commercial Cannabis Permits.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2)
A. Expiration, suspension or revocation of a license, permit or entitlement issued by the State of California related to a commercial cannabis business shall be grounds for immediate suspension of a commercial cannabis business to operate within the City, unless and until such license, permit or entitlement is reinstated or reissued.
1. Permittee shall notify the City Manager in writing within forty-eight (48) hours of any suspension, revocation, or termination of a license issued by the State of California, or by any of its departments or divisions.
2. Should the State of California, or any of its departments, divisions, or agencies, suspend, revoke or terminate the license of a commercial cannabis business operating in the City, such suspension, revocation or termination, the City Manager shall suspend the ability of a commercial cannabis business to operate within the City of Chico unless and until the State of California, or its respective department, division, or agency reinstates or reissues the State license. Notice of such suspension shall be provided to the commercial cannabis business.
B. Expiration, suspension or revocation of a license, permit or entitlement issued by the City of Chico related to a commercial cannabis business shall be grounds for immediate suspension of a commercial cannabis business to operate within the City, unless and until such license, permit or entitlement is reinstated or reissued. Notice of such suspension shall be provided to the commercial cannabis business.
C. The commercial cannabis business shall have the right to an appeal pursuant to Section 5.42.160.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2)
A. The following are grounds for revocation of a Commercial Cannabis Permit:
1. Failure of a permittee to comply with any requirement imposed by the provisions of this Code (or successor provision or provisions), including, but not limited to, any rule, regulation, condition or standard adopted pursuant to this chapter, or any term or condition imposed on the Commercial Cannabis Permit or entitlements or Use Permit, or any provision of State law.
2. Revocation of a State license issued under this chapter.
3. If the permittee, its owner(s), manager(s) or a responsible person has, within the past three (3) years, been sentenced or had a judgment issued in a criminal or civil court proceeding, and/or has been sanctioned or fined for, enjoined from, or found guilty of or plead guilty or no contest to a charge for engaging in a commercial cannabis activity in the State without the necessary permits and approvals from the applicable State and/or local jurisdictions; or has had a commercial cannabis license revoked or suspended by the applicable State and/or local jurisdictions.
4. Conviction within the past ten (10) years of the permittee, its owner(s) or manager(s), or a responsible person, including a plea of guilty or no contest, to any of the following offenses shall be grounds for revocation of a Commercial Cannabis Permit issued by the City:
i. A violent felony, as specified in Section 667.5(c) of the Penal Code.
ii. A serious felony, as specified in Section 1192.7(c) of the Penal Code.
iii. A felony involving fraud, deceit, or embezzlement.
iv. A felony for hiring, employing, or using a minor in transporting, carrying, selling, giving away, preparing for sale, or peddling, any controlled substance to a minor; or selling, offering to sell, furnishing, offering to furnish, administering, or giving any controlled substance to a minor.
v. A felony for drug trafficking with enhancements pursuant to Section 11370.4 or 11379.8 of the Health and Safety Code.
vi. A felony or misdemeanor involving the illegal possession for sale, sale, manufacture, transportation, or cultivation of a controlled substance occurring after January 1, 2016.
5. If the permittee fails to satisfy all of the requirements set forth in Section 5.42.100B. within three years of the issuance of a Commercial Cannabis Permit or January 1, 2027, whichever occurs later.
B. If the City Manager determines that a ground for revocation of a Commercial Cannabis Permit exists, the City Manager shall serve written notice of revocation to the permittee or responsible person. The notice may be served on the recipient either personally or by certified first class mail to the address listed on the application. This notice shall state the reasons for the action, the effective date of the decision, the right of the permittee to appeal the decision to the City Council, or its appointed hearing officer or body, and that the City Manager’s decision will be final if no written appeal is timely submitted to, and received by, the City, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
C. This notice will be effective within ten (10) days from the date of service of the notice. To exercise the right to appeal, the permittee must file with the City Clerk a written basis for the appeal, including evidence relating to the grounds for revocation, and the applicable fee. The appeal will be heard by the City Council or its appointed hearing officer or body in accordance with Section 5.42.160. If no timely appeal is filed, the City Manager’s decision will be final 10 days after the date on the notice of revocation. If an appeal is timely and properly filed in accordance with this chapter, then the effective date of the notice is stayed until a decision after the hearing on the appeal is issued.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2, Ord. 2598 § 1)
A. Notice of appeals.
1. Within ten (10) calendar days after the notice of the decision of the City Manager or their designee(s) to revoke, suspend or deny an initial or renewed permit, or to add conditions to a permit, an aggrieved party may appeal such action by filing a written appeal with the City Clerk setting forth the reason why the decision was not proper. Reasons shall be stated with specificity and shall address the issues outlined in Section 5R.42.170(a). Date of service shall mean the date when a notice or written decision was personally delivered to the permittee, or the date when the notice was caused to be delivered by certified, first class mail. In cases in which the City can verify delivery of a notice to an applicant, or in which an applicant is documented as refusing delivery, lack of receipt of the notice cannot form the basis for an appeal.
2. The Notice of Appeal shall be in writing and signed by the person making the appeal (“appellant”), or their legal representative, and shall contain the following:
i. Name, address, and telephone number of the appellant.
ii. Specify decisions, actions, or a particular part thereof, made that are the subject of the appeal.
iii. Include a true and correct copy of the notice issued by the City Manager for which the appellant is appealing.
iv. State with specificity the reasons and grounds for making the appeal, including, but not limited to, a statement of facts upon which the appeal is based in sufficient detail to enable the City Council, or any appointed hearing officer, to understand the nature of the controversy, the basis of the appeal, and the relief requested.
v. All documents or other evidence pertinent to the appeal that the appellant requests the hearing officer or body to consider at the hearing.
vi. An appeal fee, as established by Resolution of the City Council.
3. Failure of the City Clerk to receive a timely appeal constitutes a waiver of the right to appeal the notice issued by the City Manager. In this event, City Manager’s notice of revocation, nonrenewal, suspension and/or other action is final and binding.
4. In the event a written Notice of Appeal is timely filed, the nonrenewal, suspension, revocation, or other action shall not become effective until a final decision has been rendered and issued by the City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body. Notices of appeal not served in a timely manner or served by non-operational businesses shall not serve to allow such businesses to operate pending appeal.
5. If no appeal is timely filed in the event of a decision of nonrenewal, the Commercial Cannabis Permit shall expire at the conclusion of the term of the permit. If no appeal is timely filed in the event of a decision supporting suspension or revocation, the suspension or revocation shall become effective upon the expiration of the period for filing a written Notice of Appeal.
B. Review by City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body; appeal hearing and proceedings.
1. All appellants shall, subject to filing a timely written Notice of Appeal, obtain review thereof before the City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body.
2. Upon receipt by the City Clerk of a timely-filed appeal, the City Clerk shall forward such appeal to each member of the City Council. Any member of the City Council may within ten (10) days of such notification then request that the City Clerk place on the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting or special Council meeting the question of whether the City Council shall sit as the appeals board. In the event that City Council does not affirmatively choose to hear such appeal or does not act to appoint another body to serve to head such appeal, the City Clerk shall immediately obtain the services of a hearing officer from the Office of Administrative Hearings.
3. The administrative appeal shall be scheduled no later than forty-five (45) days, and no sooner than thirty (30) days, after receipt of a timely filed Notice of Appeal if such appeal is to be heard by the City Council or other City-appointed body. If the Office of Administrative Hearings is utilized for such hearing, then the hearing shall be scheduled as expeditiously as possible pursuant to the availability of a hearing officer. The appellant(s) listed on the written Notice of Appeal shall be notified in writing of the date, time, and location of the hearing at least ten (10) days before the date of the hearing (“notice of appeal hearing”).
4. All requests by an appellant to continue a hearing must be submitted to the City Clerk in writing no later than three (3) business days before the date scheduled for the hearing. The City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body, may continue a hearing for good cause or on its own motion; however, in no event may the hearing be continued for more than thirty (30) calendar days, unless there is a stipulation by all parties to do so.
5. The City Council shall preside over the hearing on appeal, or at City Council’s discretion, the City Council may appoint a hearing officer or body to conduct the hearing.
C. At the date, time and location set forth in the Notice of Appeal hearing, the City Council, or an appointed hearing officer or body, shall hear and consider the testimony of the appellant(s), City staff, and/or their witnesses, as well as any documentary evidence properly submitted for consideration.
D. The following rules shall apply at the appeal hearing:
1. Appeal hearings are informal, and formal rules of evidence and discovery do not apply. However, rules of privilege shall be applicable to the extent they are permitted by law, and irrelevant, collateral, undue, and repetitious testimony may be excluded.
2. The City bears the burden of proof to establish the grounds for denial, nonrenewal, suspension or revocation of a permit by a preponderance of evidence. The appellant(s) or permittee(s) bear the burden of proof regarding denial of an initial permit, as described in Section 5.42.170.
3. The issuance of the City Manager’s notice constitutes prima facie evidence of grounds for the denial, nonrenewal, suspension or revocation, and City personnel who significantly took part in the investigation, which contributed to the City Manager issuing a notice of decision, may be required to participate in the appeal hearing.
4. The City Council, or the appointed hearing officer or body, may accept and consider late evidence not submitted initially with the Notice of Appeal upon a showing by the appellant of good cause. The City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body, shall determine whether a particular fact or facts amount to a good cause on a case-by-case basis.
5. The appellant may bring a language interpreter to the hearing at their sole expense.
6. The City may, at its discretion, record the hearing by stenographer or court reporter, audio recording, or video recording. If the appellant requests from the City that said recording take place, the costs of same shall be deposited with the City at the time the Notice of Appeal and appeal fee are submitted to the City.
E. If the appellant, or their legal representative, fails to appear at the appeal hearing, the City Council, or the appointed hearing officer or body, may cancel the appeal hearing and send a notice thereof to the appellant by certified, first class mail to the address(es) stated on the Notice of Appeal. A cancellation of a hearing due to non-appearance of the appellant shall constitute the appellant’s waiver of the right to appeal and a failure to exhaust all administrative remedies. In such instances, the City Manager’s notice of decision is final and binding.
F. Decision of the City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body; final decision.
1. Following the conclusion of the appeal hearing, the City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body, shall determine if any ground exists for the non-issuance, nonrenewal, suspension or revocation of a Commercial Cannabis Permit or other action. If the City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body, determines that no grounds for denial, nonrenewal, suspension, revocation, or other action exist, the City Manager’s notice of decision shall be deemed vacated. If the City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body, determines that one or more of the reasons or grounds enumerated in the notice of decision exists, a written final decision shall be issued within ten (10) business days, which shall at minimum contain the following:
i. A finding and description of each reason or grounds for non-issuance, nonrenewal, suspension, revocation, or other action that exists.
ii. Any other finding, determination or requirement that is relevant or related to the subject matter of the appeal.
iii. A holding that the City Manager’s decision is affirmed or modified.
2. The decision of the City Council, or appointed hearing officer or body, is final and conclusive and is subject to the time limits set forth in California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.6.
G. A copy of the final decision shall be served by certified, first class mail on the appellant. If the appellant is not the owner of the real property in which the commercial cannabis business is located, or proposed to be located, a copy of the final decision may also be served on the property owner by first class mail to the address shown on the last equalized assessment roll. Failure of a person to receive a properly addressed final decision shall not invalidate any action or proceeding by the City pursuant to this chapter.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2)
A. The grounds for denial of an initial denial of a Commercial Cannabis Permit are limited to the following:
1. Deviation from the City’s published Application Procedures that adversely affected the applicant by altering the outcome of the City’s decision on the applicant’s application. Examples of appealable deviations are:
a. Failure on the part of the City to provide appropriate notification regarding changes to the application process via website postings and/or email to the applicant prior to the time the application was submitted;
b. Failure on the part of the City to provide an applicant an equal opportunity to modify an application, where that opportunity was provided to other applicants required to comply with the same criteria under the exact same process for the type of activity in which they applied for in the City.
2. Scoring of one or more portions of the applicant’s application was not justified based on the information presented in the application, or due to a material error or omission on the part of the individual(s) scoring the application.
B. Any appeal based upon Section 5.42.170.A(1) must be supported by substantial evidence that the applicant presented the relevant information with completeness and in the appropriate section of the application. Information presented in the application that is incomplete in nature, or that is relevant to a question posed by the City on the application form but appears in the incorrect section, even if complete, may be grounds for the dismissal of the appeal.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2)
ARTICLE III. ISSUANCE AND PERMIT REQUIREMENTS
Prior to commencing operations, a commercial cannabis business shall be subject to inspection of the premises, and must obtain all required plan approvals and building permits which would otherwise be required for any business of the same size and intensity operating in that zone. Accordingly, the permittee shall also obtain all required Building Division approvals, Fire Department approvals, Butte County Health Department approvals and any other permit or approval required by this chapter, Code or applicable law, rules or regulations.
(Ord. 2552 §1, Ord. 2589 §2)
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