The Daily Pilot writes
After processing dozens of applications from cannabis retailers looking to do business in Costa Mesa, the city could soon close the floodgate as the council is poised Tuesday to discuss potentially halting the practice.
The panel in September directed city staff to work with the Planning Commission to determine whether local ordinances allowing for the sales and delivery of retail cannabis may be leading to an over-concentration of dispensaries and the displacement of local businesses.
So far, the commission has approved 21 conditional use permits for storefronts, three standalone cannabis delivery permits and nine minor conditional use permits to allow legal cannabis manufacturing and processing enterprises operating in an approved “Green Zone” to add delivery services to their offerings. Of those, eight storefronts and a total of seven delivery businesses are operating in the city.
Councilman Don Harper during an Oct. 3 meeting requested the council engage in a conversation about whether the city may want to issue a temporary moratorium on the processing of cannabis applications while staff and commissioners engaged in their evaluation.
As such, the panel will discuss the matter Tuesday, the same night the council will be asked to consider an appeal filed by a local business owner against a 5,941-square-foot pot shop at 1505 Mesa Verde Drive East, approved by the Planning Commission in August.
