(a) The Mayor and City Council shall adopt by Resolution 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 Resolution 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"), which shall require any applicable environmental review pursuant to Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code as contemplated by Business and Professions Code Section 26055, subdivision (h). The Resolution shall authorize the City Manager or his/her designee(s) to prepare the necessary forms, adopt any necessary rules to the application, regulations and processes, solicit applications, conduct initial evaluations of the applicants, and to ultimately provide a final recommendation to the Mayor and City Council.
(b) At the time of filing, each applicant shall pay an application fee established by Resolution of the Mayor and 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 recommendation to the Mayor and City Council, and the Mayor and City Council shall make a final determination in accordance with Section 5.10.180.
(d) THE CITY 'S RESERVATION OF RIGHTS:
The City reserves the right to reject any or all initial 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 by 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, including a failure to comply with other requirements in this Chapter, an application RISKS BEING REJECTED for any of the following reasons:
(1) The application was received after the designated time and date;
(2) The application did not contain the required elements, exhibits, nor organized in the required format; or
(3) The application was not considered fully responsive to the request for permit application.
(Ord. MC-1503, 9-05-18; Ord. MC-1464, 3-07-18)