City Council — 2022-10-11

Call to order. Oh, nice. Yeah, all right.

Welcome to Dodger baseball!

James Hahn in the house? We have a quorum. Could we have the roll call please, Gail?

I sure will mayor Please place your right hand over your heart and repeat after me,

War energies. But what does it feel like to be peaceful in our hearts, to ourselves? Not always criticizing ourselves, criticizing our partners or children or neighbors. So I think what we both feel as we walk our talk is to awaken this peace in everyone because I know everyone is longing for that So we take the spirit from Ojai to Poland and I thank everyone, I thank the community and all the wonderful people I met. And I felt it's community here with all the shadow sides that's part of life like life is work in progress, Ojai is work in progress so keep going and I hope We're wonderful people who carry on the Ojai International City of Peace movement and hopefully many will join in. It's a people's movement, not an upside-down movement.

Everyone is contributing to it. So thank you, thank you, thank you everyone! It was great pleasure. We will visit often for sure. Hope to see you then. Thank you

I have one anecdote to add, if I may. And thank you for the time. So both founders of the One Humanity Institute have come to Ojai many times. And when we agreed they said they're bringing Ojai to us. So I just wanted to add that and tears on the proclamation. Thank you.

Thank you. Nice to start the evening that way. We will move on to commission reports, any commission reports James?

I do not believe we have any commissioner reports today.

Okay, all right We will move on to public communications and just reminder that these are items not on the agenda And because they're not on the agenda, we may not discuss them. And we have a three-minute maximum so please be mindful of that and when the buzzer goes off please stop talking just out of fairness and we'll have a gentle chime as a reminder. So let's begin with Sean Higdon next and then Elle Caldwell and then Leslie Rule.

Thank you so much. Good evening, members of the council. My name is Sean Higdon. I live here in Ojai with my wife and two children. You may have heard that Holy Cross Preschool on Maricopa Highway is closing 17 days from now. My son used to attend preschool there and my daughter attended aftercare for school-aged children. Its closure must be causing untold stress for so many parents in our community.

I raised this matter last Thursday with the Parks and Rec Commission. I want to applaud our recreation department, including Luis Gomez and his staff for their ongoing work to respond to this crisis. Two things jumped out at me though as I spoke to the commission. First, my one comment on this closure was interspersed with many more comments on pickleball and the noise that it generates.

To be clear, pickleball is wonderful and brings people to Ojai I don't challenge its value to our community, but the juxtaposition was striking. Second, some in the room were not even aware that this closure was happening. I do understand that. I really do. Parents with young kids like my wife and I struggle to make meetings like this. It's hard to make our voices heard.

Challenges with child care can feel quite lonely for so many. But we in Ojai should show parents that they are not alone. This city has a unique responsibility to our children. We do not have a why, we do not have a boys and girls club. This is on us. Accordingly this body must strongly support the rec department's efforts to expand programming. During the meeting Thursday Mr. Gomez noted that space and licensing issues present presently limit program expansion opportunities.

I urge you to provide the direction and funding needed to overcome these barriers. We should collaborate with partners, both public and private in the valley as well. Ojai Valley and staff have used Holy Cross regularly, to my knowledge. The hospital was the next building down whether through an ad hoc committee task force or other means our city should bring stakeholders together including Ojai Library and yes even the school district to engage in a comprehensive review of our programming and the options available to us.

That will require building relationships, and I imagine restoring some trust especially with OUSD but we owe our children nothing less than our best. I concede these questions are difficult but our community claims to embrace those who are suffering. I believe Holy Cross families, our families, are suffering right now. We can show that we care through action not merely our words And if you could just find the time to consider this issue between debates about pickleball noise, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm sure many parents would as well. Thank you

so much. Thank you, Sean.

Sure. I heard you speak at Park and Rec meeting. Yes. And I was aware of it already. I read the OI Valley News. And was it you that wrote the editorial?

It was. It was

excellent. And my question to you is are you going to go before

I would like to, I know they're meeting tomorrow. I was actually asking some questions about aftercare programming that the school district offers in speaking with one of the representatives from the school district. They say they offer programming for kids TK through fifth grade. I will say the after-school programming at Holy Cross was very well attended so I do wonder how sufficient that programming is not again Thank you.

Thank you, Sean. Mayor and Council if I could just add as well that I had met with Mr. Gomez prior to that Parks and Rec Commission meeting and we had talked about trying to expand some programming very quickly so we are trying to do that the other there were a couple of challenges listed at the meeting space for it which i think is something we can overcome The licensing is a little bit more of a challenge. And then there's the third challenge that wasn't mentioned, but I think I'm trying to keep everybody informed on which is staffing challenges. We've really had a hard time recruiting a lot of the part-time recreation positions because a lot of people still aren't comfortable coming back to work.

So we're trying to address each of those challenges and add what we can add and so we have had those discussions. The rec mission got a report on that as well. So we'll try to keep everybody updated on that.

Thank you, James. Next we have L. Caldwell then Leslie Rule and then I have two cards from L. Caldwell. Okay all right thank you next we have Leslie Rule then Robin Gerber and then Jeff Kroll oh I'm sorry Jeff's on number two and then Ron Solizano

Good evening Council Members. I'm here to let everyone know that the League of Women Voters has scheduled a forum for council folks because the last one, the audio and video didn't really transfer and that will be October 20th it will be via Zoom and you can find it at the leagueofwomenvotersventuracounty.org It'll be clearly marked for the council members forum.

And I just wanted to say, I'm running for District 1 so I wanted to just say that I will be there and I will be really focusing on a livable Ojai which to me is a community that cherishes and protects its people and its place including the flora and the fauna and the land And in turn, that ecosystem nourishes the community and it's a relationship based on respect and reciprocity.

So I, in the last 10 years, I have started on a planning board as an ad hoc citizen member so learned all about codes and permits and actually was fascinated And then I moved on to the school board and then onto the town council so I do have a great bit of municipal experience. I could go on but I would say please, if you can not necessarily folks but I mean for sure you folks but also the people listening to this via Zoom, please do tune in because this is an important election. We have a lot that we need to figure out and you know I come to these council meetings and this one was amazing. Brian and Lisa, I see those peace polls everywhere and they hit me every time So I have to thank the town council for acknowledging them and actually bringing to the forefront for me exactly all that they have done.

They are the best of Ojai, it's no doubt. And Sean and Holy Cross once again, I can feel the pain involved in that and that as a city we can potentially help them is also an amazing gift that we can give back to the community so I applaud James and the Park and Rec Department for moving forward with that in such a timely and consistent, and conscientious, and kind manner.

So that's all. I hope to see everybody October 20th on the Zoom forum.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Leslie. Next we have Robin Gerber and then Ron Salazano.

Hi, I'm Robin Gerber Just a quick take on two things. First, public service. Besides your service as legislators you have a duty to make decisions in the public interest. Not service for friends, not service for family or campaign managers or yourself. When you deliberate advocate for your position and vote you should only be considering how the public's interest is best served For example, in your September 13th meeting the mayor advocated a position in favor of allowing the use of gas chainsaws despite the ordinance requiring electric landscape equipment. The exception she sought was for a fire grant on which the paid administrator is her campaign manager Tom Francis.

This exception to use gas-powered chainsaws would have saved the grant money but defeated the purpose of our city ordinance to curb the worst kind of pollution. Why would the mayor advocate for gas-powered chainsawing after strenuously arguing in favor of the electrification code that makes Ojai a model for clean air and helping curb the effects of climate change?

I fear the answer is acting not in the public interest, but in the interests of particular people My second point is about hypocrisy. It is easy to say you stand for something, but much harder to walk the walk. The British suffragists had a great saying, deeds not words. If you speak and vote in favor of electrification and moving away from fossil fuels, don't then advocate for an exception big enough to carry a gas-powered chainsaw through.

Everyone makes mistakes. Some of you know that I have advocated in other settings for following the codes of ethics. And I would call on any of you, from now into forever for failing to follow the Code of Ethics which requires acting for the public because this is fundamental to good governance. And those who take your places should pay attention when Matt Summers gives you the Code of Ethics class and please avoid hypocrisy there is far too much of it in the world.

Instead act on what you say you believe That is what the public expects. Thank you.

Thank you Robin and just a little clarification from what I understand trees that have larger than 14 inches diameter need they can't be chopped down with electric chainsaws. And when I asked about, I asked if any organization that had received grants to take down trees firing that are incendiary if all of those could If that could be considered in that form, so that's why I asked okay next we have Ron Solizano All

right All righty, thank you so much. Members of Council my name is Ron Solorzano and I am the regional librarian for the Ojai Valley. Tonight I wanted to give you a quick update on some of the programming we have going on at the library this month and I want to start by pitching a program that California State University Channel Islands is bringing back to the Ojai Library. This is their library lecture series, and it's going to start this round with a talk by Assistant Professor of Art Simon Quiroz who will speak on the ways visual media is recorded and finished to look vibrant and colorful for television and cinema.

His talk called Coloring Motion Pictures is gonna take place on Saturday October 15th at 1 p.m. in the Ojai Library's meeting room so Ojai Day weekend. Next, on Tuesday October 18th the Ojai Library is going to be hosting an in-person discussion of this year's one county one book selection Tastemakers by Mayuk Sen. Library staff will facilitate by asking questions as we explore the themes of this work which include food and culture as well as what it means to be an immigrant and a woman in America. This discussion will take place at 6 p.m.

That same week on Thursday, October 20th, California Lutheran University is going to host their own One County One Book event. A faculty and alumni panel on tastemakers featuring Dr. Sam Clausen, Chef Antonio Sessa, and Dr. Michaela Reeves who will be discussing the role of food in American history and culture. The panel will take place at the Lundring Event Center at Cal Lutheran and will begin at 7 p.m.

Finally, One County One Book concludes this year on Saturday November 12th with a special event featuring Mayuk Sen at CSU Channel Islands. The day's program will include a free author talk and book signing as well as a special VIP fundraising event before the talk sponsored by the Ventura County Library Foundation. Participants can register for both events by visiting www.vencolibrary.org slash O-C-O-B And that's all I have for now. I appreciate your time and if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact me or the library team Thank you and have a wonderful evening

Thank You Ron Any comments on zoom Gail?

Sorry If there's anyone in the zoom queue who would like to speak on this item Please use the raised hand function now and we have one person Karina, there's no last name you can go ahead and speak. Go ahead. Hi thank you

good evening council members and the mayor I just wanted to remind the city that Drown Avenue is under a speed study and it's been going on now I don't even know how long My neighbors and I really want to know what is going to happen as the situation here has gotten very, very bad. So I wrote to Randy Haney about this and I'm just hoping we can get an update or have it on an agenda item next time or something because we're all sort of at our wits end Um, trying to cope with the people speeding up and down our street on a regular basis.

Thank you.

Thank you, Karina. That's all. Any more comments? Okay, um alright let's move on to the consent calendar. Motion to approve?

Uh, I move to approve. Second.

Great, all right let's move on to the public hearing item number two consideration of allowing up to three cannabis lounges in M1 MPD zoning districts James we have a staff report

yes mayor thank you I have a brief four slide presentation, so bear with me. We'll be pulling that up. So the item, the discussion item on the agenda is to consider allowing up to three cannabis lounges in the M1 MPD zoning districts. This has been an item that had been sent to the planning commission for consideration. The planning commission Recommendation came back to the council and the council asked staff to do a little bit more research in return With a potential an ordinance that we could discuss. And so that is what we are here for tonight I do want to provide a little bit of background on What cannabis lounges are as we talk to a lot of people you realized? I think it's not clear to a lot of people what they are So We'll start with a little bit of background.

Cannabis lounges could potentially allow smoking, vaping and or consumption of edibles on site. There are different types of lounges that allow different types of things but those are all possible in a cannabis lounge. Proponents of cannabis lounges note that they provide a safe space for users. And so, that's one of the reasons why some have supported including cannabis lounges or allowing cannabis lounges.

They're currently allowed in the cities of West Hollywood, San Francisco, Oakland, Palm Springs and others And as people may have seen in the news recently, Port Hueneme became the first Ventura County city to allow cannabis lounges a couple of months ago. Their cannabis lounge is anticipated to open, their first lounge is anticipated to open in November. So there's not currently one open in Ventura County but that is anticipated to be the first.

We talked a lot with people who had a lot of questions about how they would operate, and we realized the best description we heard to help people understand what it would operate like is it's basically similar to a bar. Just like a bar with alcohol you can't bring in your own alcohol or you can't order your glass of beer and take it to go. Usually, I know that's a little different with COVID but usually that's the case. And so cannabis lounges function the same way but with cannabis. The idea is you are going into the building and you are consuming your cannabis in the building. You're not bringing in your own, you're not taking cannabis out of the lounge.

And I want to note one difference, I think for Ojai compared to other cities when they're discussing this. Other cities focus on the revenue. I think it's fair to say that the revenue in Ojai has never really been the driving force for us with the cannabis items. I think the focus was more on medicinal purposes and allowing people the safe space. So we haven't focused on it, but I do want to just note we currently have a 3% cannabis tax that generates about $300,000 in revenue each year. That tax would be applied to any lounge that opened and so at this point without any further changes it would be the default 3% that we've set.

And so we wanted to show just quickly, this is the proposed lounge that's expected to open in November in Wainimi. It's called Wheel House and that's anticipated to be the first one in the county. This is their rendering that they presented to the Port Wainimi City Council. Just to give an idea of, it's a new topic so a lot of people aren't sure what we're talking about. What it would look like? What it would feel like? So this is what their proposal was.

And so as I mentioned a moment ago in June of 2022 the council asked staff to explore and also to talk to the dispensaries in town and find out what they were looking for and return to council with a proposal. There's still two questions. I want to make sure it's clear as we haven't the city hasn't decided to allow him yet there was Talk that the city would consider it So the first question that needs to be answered is whether the City Council wants to allow cannabis lounges And then the second question would be if so, what regulations will we put in place? and so we've proposed some regulations that we can talk about to help give everybody an idea of what it would look like and what the rules would be We met with each dispensary as part of the process.

We really discovered kind of the eye-opening thing was that each dispensary really has kind of a different focus, a different niche and different needs. One dispensary talked about just having a small space where somebody who is prescribed medicinal use of cannabis can learn how to use it. That was one dispensaries idea Because right now they are prohibited from showing people how to use the, or from being able to demonstrate how to use cannabis to its customers.

And then we kind of saw the gamut to one idea was to essentially have an indoor and outdoor restaurant essentially that would also allow cannabis use. So talking to the dispensaries, we were able to kind of figure out what everybody needed or was looking to do. I think we came back with what we propose as a reasonable option that doesn't go maybe as far as some might have wanted but it's a reasonable proposal for the council to consider.

And right off the bat, the next slide will talk about some of the regulations. But I know one of the big discussions that the Planning Commission really struggled with was whether to allow the dispensaries outside of the M1 zone. The M1 being the industrial manufacturing zone that includes Fulton Street and Bryant Street and Bryant Circle. And so the planning commission had really struggled with that. They ultimately had recommended not expanding out of the zone. When we talked to the dispensaries, I think that maybe one or two would like to expand outside of the zone but we ultimately recommended that if we were going to do this, the first step would not be expanding outside of the zone and so I'll go through this in a little more detail but I think that was a big one.

The regulations that we would recommend if the council were to consider allowing these is that the three existing dispensaries would be able to get licenses, but we wouldn't open these up to other businesses that don't exist at this time in the city. It'd be just for the three existing dispensaries. We recommend limiting it to the M1 zones. We recommend limiting it to indoor only with odor control, to address concerns from neighbors.

The Planning Commission had recommended edibles only. I think that everybody we talked to unanimously agreed that is not a good idea, so we did not recommend limiting to edibles only. So the proposed ordinance allows smoking, vaping or edibles. They would be allowed but not visible usage from any public place. Food infused with cannabis would be permitted, no tobacco or alcoholic products could be brought into the lounge and then we recommended that the hours align with the dispensaries where the hours would be limited to 9 AM to 7 PM. That's a tighter restriction than state law which would allow them to be open till I believe 2 AM.

And then, yeah and you can start as early as 6am per state law. Last thing we note that we would recommend requiring a safety plan and registration of guests the dispensaries already register their guests as they come in you have to sign in I do want to highlight that because Port Hueneme adopted what they called a membership requirement. You have to purchase a $100 membership for a dispensary, and the idea is that then gives the dispensary owners some control over if a guest gets out of control, they revoke the membership and they're no longer allowed to attend.

When we talked to the dispensaries, they noted that they already registered guests And so they would be able to do that without the membership. So that's something we didn't include in the ordinance, but it's something that can be considered. And so with that again, the two questions before council tonight are whether to allow the lounges and if so whether to include all of the regulations that staff recommends.

Thank you James any questions from Council?

Yes, I had one. I have my hand up.

So Mr. City Manager, my

recollection... Microphone please. Microphone, censor.

Thank you very much for reminding me. My recollection was that we actually did approve the lounges but not the regulations, and I could be wrong but that was my recollection. And I also clearly recall that at least two members of the City Council myself and council member Weirich possibly another member Did ask staff to explore going into the east end of Ojai. So how was it decided not to include that in the staff report?

Yeah, so those were items discussed. It could not be approved without an ordinance being adopted. So there was no ordinance, so there is general feedback from the council that this is something we may be interested in approving but there was not an actual approval. So we had to bring the ordinance back and there was discussion I think amongst the council there was some interest in exploring whether it's time to expand outside of the M1 zone I don't think there was a consensus to do it. I think we were asked to explore it, and so when we met with the cannabis lounges and we talked about their needs and we talked about how it could work our staff recommendation is not to expand it but that's something that the City Council could choose to do.

We can do that when we go to deliberations. Thank you.

Bill? I have a related question with a little different angle James. Could you provide a little Was there any, what I'm trying to say is there any rationale other than the planning commission's opposition for relocation? To at least what was my motivation was to option a relocation that would move forward in terms of the uses and M1 and MPD being more consistent with the general plan and with the zoning description of these zones.

And I guess what I'm asking is, was there anything other than the planning commission reticence to in effect have the staff report not have the relocation option. So in effect we're intensifying the contradiction with the general plan description of this zone?

Yeah, and that is a legitimate concern. It's something we struggled with too because we all hear about the challenge in finding space in the M1 zone so we did kind of explore it with an open mind of that possibility I think there's really two main things and one is that We thought that this was a reasonable, I guess first step towards exploring this. And then second and we'll probably hear from the dispensary owners tonight, I expect so they can tell me if I'm wrong but when we had spoke to the different dispensaries We didn't get the sense that a majority of them were eager or able to move out of the M one zone at this point. And so I guess we'll, we can hear if that's the case but when we after we met with everybody we came back and felt There wasn't a big demand to move out of M1 zone, and then also just as a first step that expanding within the M1 would be an option.

But again Council can discuss that tonight. Thank

you. Randy?

Have a couple questions So you talked to the dispensaries about this? Did you talk to the neighbors of the dispensary? No, we did not. Did you talk to any businesses in the downtown corridor? No on the East End Corridor

No, we met with the dispenser ease that

was so So I just want to acknowledge that we're writing something around three people who owned these distribution centers, and we didn't talk to anyone else about how their distributions if they move might be impacted. So I just want to note that then the Can only sell cannabis to an individual in an amount reasonable for on-site consumption Mr. Attorney what does that mean?

I'm glad you asked him, not

me. It's not a hard numeric ounces, this many ounces or this many edible products. It'll be up to each dispensary to judge in compliance with state law as it exists now and as it is modified over time a reasonable amount for each person. Somewhat similar to how alcohol is not, there's not a hard cap on sale of alcohol in a bar. It's each bartender whose individual license by the ABC has to judge when someone needs to be cut off from purchasing more alcohol.

So that leads to my next question is if someone over consumes, who's minding the store on this over consumption of edibles or of inhalation or of well I guess those are only two ways that they're using it there. So there's monitors at these places, is that what I'm hearing? Or how does it work? It's not a bar. But we saw a picture of a bar or I saw a picture of an eating establishment because that's going to be my next question.

So we're just saying that who's ever selling is the responsible person for someone being intoxicated or what's another word for that? Inebriated. Right, so...

Yeah it'll be up to each dispensary as presently proposed. That would be the colloquial term. To handle the matter if somebody finds themselves inebriated beyond reasonable functioning

So it says the on-site sale of food and food items infused with cannabis is permitted I guess I guess sometimes where I get lost in this, because I'm really trying to go with the flow on this. If we're going to allow someone to infuse food with cannabis and sell it, why wouldn't we allow them to sell food that's not infused? Is that an entirely different license or is that an entirely different business?

And is that beneficial to the cannabis dispensaries? Did you ask them that?

No, we did not ask them if they would want to make non-cannabis food. I guess we had a couple interviews that we had not thought to have. I was

just wondering because we're allowing infused, you know, I guess I could take a sandwich and sprinkle a little different type of oregano on it? But so, and then my I have one last the ninth recommendation. Could you pull the recommendations? Sure. Because those weren't in our packet were they?

No this is just in our or actually they...

I

was

looking at bullet points but I didn't see the ninth one.

Okay.

I just wanted to follow up on that if I could.

It's it's on the next page there are the bullet points that are under recommendations it's the recommendation requiring a safety plan and registration of guests

Yeah, so right now this is educational for me as well as the public. So when someone goes into a dispensary right now they have to register?

Yes.

And so now what we're saying is in a lounge they would have to register also if they're just walking into Make a purchase, but what if they don't make a purchase? Are they allowed to walk in with their own cannabis material?

No. You have to show your ID and sign in to even get into the dispensary and the proposal would be to treat them the same under this process.

And the proposal also prohibits folks from bringing in their own

cannabis. Again how is that monitored or how is that enforced?

Right now they have a, if you haven't been I have to inspect it so just if anybody's wondering how I know. When you walk in a security guard is at the door and when you go in you have to show them your ID, you have to sign in. I have not been searched going in but they are very attentive so I believe they will look and make sure you're not carrying anything in And so these would be treated the same way. Like I said, Port Wainimi has an additional above and beyond a $100 per year membership. And if you revoke your membership, you can't go in. So that's possible but the registration does... Originally I was pushing for a membership requirement after we met with the dispensaries. I was convinced that the registration really serves the same function.

The only difference is with the membership, you'd lose your hundred dollar fee essentially.

And then Mayor, my last question if you'll indulge me is are the separations of the lounge and the dispense... Are the two distinct points of sale separated by any walls or different filtration systems? How are I... You know that was one of the bigger concerns when we initiated cannabis here was how are we gonna not allow this fragrance to interact with the public.

Yes, there's two items there. One is that we noted that odor control requirements would be the same as dispensaries meaning that we would require that they wouldn't you wouldn't be able to smell it from outside of the lounge and then second to answer your second part there. The way we've drafted it is that If they ended up going next door to a dispensary, they would still have to have a separate entrance and a separate dedicated entrance. So you wouldn't be able to walk into the dispensary and then kind of walk over to a lounge section and start using and then walk back out.

It's a practical matter if I could jump in there that may show up on the ground in two ways. Two doors, vestibule ID check then door into the dispensary or door into the lounge alternatively it could be one door from the outside into a vestibule check id a door from there into the lounge another door into the dispensary but you wouldn't be able to get past the id check and then walk from the dispensary to the lounge you have to go back out through the id check

One way in, one way out. That's what I just heard. Could be two guards one guard.

Yep. Based on what you just said. Fire safety exit requirement as well. Right. You know the standard alarm fire door right okay all