Pasadena’s Six Top-Scoring Applicants for Commercial Cannabis

The Bull Dog – Oldest Cannabis Shop in Amsterdam (Photo – Jay Galvin)

The following are the six top-scoring applicants for commercial cannabis retailer permits as released by the City of Pasadena.

The six top-scoring applicants are:

City Manager Steve Mermell stated that future retail dispensaries will have appropriate design review and conditions to guard against impacts on surrounding uses and added, “I was pleased with the high-level of sophistication, experience and expertise demonstrated by the top-scoring applicants and look forward to a positive relationship between future permitted dispensaries and our community.”

Applications for all three categories of commercial cannabis permits—retailers, testing laboratories and cultivators—were accepted from January 1, 2019 until January 31, 2019. Of the 128 applications received, 122 applications were for the ‘Retailer’ category. Applications were thoroughly reviewed by Hinderliter, de Llamas and Associates (HdL), an independent municipal consulting group offering cannabis consulting services. Applications were scored on four primary categories with a total of 28 specific sub-criteria. The adopted marijuana regulations allow up to a maximum of six retail operators.

Next steps

The next steps for the top-scoring retail applicants are to submit a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application and supplemental commercial cannabis information, including verification of a lease or ownership  location that complies with the required distance separation requirements of the Pasadena’s commercial cannabis ordinance, a security plan and community benefits plan. The CUP applications will be evaluated and reviewed by the Planning Commission.

Unpermitted dispensaries

In a press release, the City stated that it will “continue to proactively deter unpermitted dispensaries through a multi-departmental enforcement effort comprised of the City Attorney/City Prosecutor Office, the Pasadena Police Department, Code Compliance and the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.”

To date, the City has closed over 20 dispensaries, 11 in the last year.

The review, scoring and identification of the top-scoring applicants for the categories of ‘Testing Laboratories’ and ‘Cultivators’ are expected to conclude “within the next few weeks,”according to the press release.

> Additional information on the application selection process and review status can be found at this link.

Source: City of Pasadena