(A) The City Manager shall adopt the procedures to govern the application process, and the manner in which the decision will ultimately be made regarding the issuance of any commercial cannabis business permit(s), which shall include or require the City Manager to provide detailed objective review criteria to be evaluated on a point system or equivalent quantitative evaluation scale tied to each set of review criteria ("review criteria"). The City Manager or his/her designee(s) shall be authorized to prepare the necessary forms, adopt any necessary rules to the application, regulations and processes, solicit applications, conduct initial evaluations of the applicants.
(B) At the time of filing, each applicant shall pay an application fee established by resolution of the City Council, to cover all costs incurred by the City in the application process.
(C) After the initial review, ranking, and scoring under the review criteria, the City Manager or his/her designee(s) will make a final determination in accordance with this section.
(D) The application procedure process shall include a component on community benefits. Any community benefits that a commercial cannabis business agrees to provide shall be incorporated into the terms and conditions under which the commercial cannabis business will operate with the City's approval. If and when an operating permit is issued, such terms and conditions shall be in addition to the requirements of this chapter. Community benefits shall primarily be an agreed-upon percentage of gross revenues of the commercial cannabis business but may also include, but not be limited to: in-kind donations; sponsorship of community events; support, financial or otherwise, for community-based organizations. Payments of any kind made to the City pursuant to the Community Benefits Agreement shall be deposited into a Community Benefits Fund, to be administered by the City Manager with the approval of the City Council. Allocations from the Community Benefits Fund shall periodically be made by the City Council at its discretion by majority vote, for the benefit of public safety, youth education, community events, community-based organizations, or for other uses benefiting the community as deemed appropriate by the Council.
(E) The City reserves the right to reject any or all applications. Prior to permit issuance, the City may also modify, postpone, or cancel any request for applications, or the entire program under this chapter, at any time without liability, obligation, or commitment to any party, firm, or organization, to the extent permitted under California State law. Persons submitting applications assume the risk that all or any part of the program, or any particular category of permit potentially authorized under this chapter, may be cancelled at any time prior to permit issuance. The City further reserves the right to request and obtain additional information from any candidate submitting an application. In addition to any other justification provided a failure to comply with other requirements in this chapter, an application risks being rejected for any of the following reasons:
1. Proposal received after designated time and date.
2. Proposal not containing the required elements, exhibits, nor organized in the required format.
3. Proposal considered not fully responsive to this request for permit application. (Ord. 1694, 10-9-2018)