(a) Application for a permit shall be filed with the director, as provided in this section.
(b) The application for a permit shall include:
(1) A warning that members of this collective or cooperative may be subject to prosecution under federal laws.
(2) The applicant's agreement, in a form approved by the city attorney, to waive and release the city from any and all legal liability related to or arising from the application for permit or business license, the issuance of a permit or business license, or the enforcement of the conditions of the permit, and/or the operation of any medical marijuana cooperative or collective.
(c) The application shall be filed on a form, signed by the applicant under penalty of perjury, shall contain such information as is requested by the city, and shall comply with the following requirements:
(1) The applicant for medical marijuana cooperative or collective shall be at least eighteen years old.
(2) The application shall include a complete description of the type, nature and extent of the enterprise to be conducted and for which application is made, with evidence that the enterprises is either a "cooperative" or "collective", as set forth in the guidelines. The requirements, standards and criteria of the guidelines are as follows:
(A) Statutory cooperatives: A cooperative must file articles of incorporation with the state and conduct its business for the mutual benefit of its members. (Corporations Code §§ 12201, 12300.) No business may call itself a "cooperative" (or "co-op") unless it is properly organized and registered as such a corporation under the Corporations or Food and Agricultural Code. (Id. at § 12311(b).) Cooperative corporations are "democratically controlled and are not organized to make a profit for themselves, as such, or for their members, as such, but primarily for their members as patrons." (Id. at § 12201.) The earnings and savings of the business must be used for the general welfare of its members or equitably distributed to members in the form of cash, property, credits, or services. (Id.) Cooperatives must follow strict rules on organization, articles, elections and distribution of earnings, and must report individual transactions from individual members each year. (Id. at §12200 et seq.) Agricultural cooperatives are likewise nonprofit corporate entities "since they are not organized to make profit for themselves, as such, or for their members, as such, but only for their members as producers." (Food and Agricultural Code § 54033.) Agricultural cooperatives share many characteristics with consumer cooperatives. (See, e.g. Id. at § 54002 et seq.) Cooperatives should not purchase marijuana from, or sell to, non-members; instead, they should only provide a means for facilitating or coordinating transactions between members.
(B) Collectives: California law does not define collectives, but the dictionary defines them as "a business, farm, etc., jointly owned and operated by the members of a group." (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc.© 2006.) Applying this definition, a collective should be an organization that merely facilitates the collaborative efforts of patient and caregiver members - including the allocation of costs and revenues. As such, a collective is not a statutory entity, but as a practical matter it might have to organize as some form of business to carry out its activities. The collective should not purchase marijuana, but should facilitate or coordinate transactions between members.
(3) The address of the location from which the cooperative or collective will be operated, and a copy of a lease signed by the owner or duly authorized agent of the property, authorizing allowing the applicant to occupy the property as a medical marijuana collective or cooperative. The property owner must authorize the application for a medical marijuana collective or cooperative in writing, and provide his/her name, address, and telephone number of where he/she may be reached for verification of the lease.
(4) The application shall include the name and address of the applicant for the medical marijuana cooperative or collective for which application is made, as well as the applicant's previous addresses for the past five years immediately prior to the present address of the applicant.
(5) The application shall include all business, occupation or employment of the applicant for the five years immediately preceding the date of the application.
(6) The application shall include a plan of operations describing how the medical marijuana cooperative or collective will operate consistent with the state law, the provisions of this chapter and the guidelines, including but not limited to:
(A) Ensuring that medical marijuana is not distributed, transmitted, dispensed, cultivated, exchanged, delivered or otherwise offered by the medical marijuana cooperative or collective in a manner that would generate a profit;
(B) Controls or measures intended to ensure medical marijuana will be dispensed, transmitted, delivered, offered, cultivated to and exchanged with members only;
(C) Controls or measures intended to ensure that access to the medical marijuana cooperative or collective premises is adequately monitored and restricted only to members; and
(D) Independent verification methods for ensuring that a potential member and/or member is a qualified patient, person with identification card or a primary caregiver.
(7) The application shall include a sketch or diagram showing the interior configuration of the premises. The sketch or diagram need not be professionally prepared, but must be drawn to a designated scale or drawn with marked dimensions of the interior of the premises to an accuracy of plus or minus six inches denoting the following:
(A) Waiting area;
(B) Dispensing area;
(C) Location of storage area:
(D) Separate air handling/HVAC system for the lease space. Neither the ventilation system for the lease space/premise nor the air handling/HVAC controls are to be shared with another lease space;
(E) Exterior lighting;
(F) Rcstrooms; and
(G) Signage plan (both interior and exterior).
(8) The application shall include a security plan including the following measures;
(A) Security cameras shall be installed and maintained in good condition, and used in an on-going manner with at least one hundred twenty concurrent hours of digitally recorded documentation in a format approved by the Los Angeles County sheriff's department. The cameras shall be in use twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week. The areas to be covered by the security cameras include, but are not limited to, the dispensing areas, storage areas, all doors and windows to the medical marijuana cooperative or collective, all parking areas, and any other areas as determined by the Los Angeles County sheriff's department.
(B) The premises shall be equipped with an alarm system that is operated and monitored by an alarm company properly licensed by the California Department of Consumer Affairs Bureau of Security and Investigative Services in accordance with California Business and Professions Code § 7590 et seq. and whose agents are also properly licensed and registered under the provisions of said sections of the Business and Professions Code.
(9) Any applicant for a permit shall complete a background cheek and shall provide the following information, to enable the Los Angeles County sheriff's department to perform the background check:
(A) The name, address, phone number, and fingerprints of the applicant;
(B) A list of each criminal conviction of the applicant, whether such conviction was by verdict, plea of guilty, or plea of nolo contendere. The list shall, for each such conviction, set forth the date of arrest, the offense charged, and the offense of which the applicant was convicted; and
(C) Such other information as may be required by the director or Los Angeles County sheriff's department for the purpose of completing the background check required by this section.
(10) The application shall include a written statement by the applicant that he/she certifies under penalty of perjury that the applicant has the consent of the property owner to operate a medical marijuana cooperative or collective at the premises.
(11) The application shall include a statement by the applicant that he/she certifies under penalty of perjury that all information contained in the application is true and correct.
(12) The application shall include any other information that is deemed necessary for the director to complete the investigation and determine compliance with this chapter, the code, zoning code and applicable state law.
(13) The application shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable fee in an amount prescribed by resolution of the city council.
(Ord. 09-983 § 2, 2010)