“As you know very well, this is an industry that is the most tightly regulated business in the City of Malibu, hands down,” Don Schmitz, a development consultant, said of cannabis sales in the city during the council meeting on Monday.
Despite an outpouring of public comment and efforts from two members, City Council voted, 3-2, to ban medical marijuana delivery in Malibu at its Jan. 22 meeting.
Community members associated with Malibu’s 99 High Tide Collective—one of two dispensaries inside city limits—came out in full force to attest to the positive benefits of delivery.
The first speaker told council that businesses on Pacific Coast Highway were not driver-friendly, stating that “getting in and out of there is really tough.”
“I’ve been a homeowner in Malibu for 20 years now,” she said. “This is the worst business community in the United States … Please don’t break this business’s back by taking away this one teeny little advantage they have.”
She proposed that council work with people “with experience, heart and compassion.”
The dispensary founder, Yvonne Greene, read a letter from a client with a disabled child, the end of which said, “By continuing to delay regulations or voting against cannabis—recreational adult use and delivery—you must realize you’re creating a black market in your own backyard. And a black market for cannabis makes this life saving medicine unavailable to me and my son. Please think very carefully about your decisions … ”
In a similar vein, Schmitz mentioned ongoing marijuana deliveries by vendors “illegally making deliveries” from areas surrounding Malibu.
Linda Vallejo took an opposing stance.
“It’s not about the medical marijuana,” she said. “It’s about the money that’s involved in this.”
She specifically called out council’s vetting process, stating that “when you have friends in high places, they look the other way.”
Without mentioning Vallejo by name, Council Member Laura Rosenthal later addressed the dig.
“When people come up here and say things about people that work in places, you better have all the facts in front of you,” she said. “… I personally don’t appreciate it when people make insinuations.”
While deliberating, Rosenthal emphasized that, in this case, the decision was “about the people that need this the most.”
Mayor Skylar Peak agreed.
“I strongly believe that we should have delivery of medical cannabis and, one day, recreational as well,” he said.
Peak suggested revisiting the item at the next council meeting, which would have been the third consecutive meeting addressing marijuana delivery.
“At this point, we did go through the process,” Council Member Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner countered, though he did agree that issue was worth exploring in the future. “I’m in favor of moving it forward.”
Mayor Pro Tem Lou La Monte said that “of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County, I think 86 of them have completely banned it,” to which Rosenthal asked, “So you want to go back to the Dark Ages and get rid of medical marijuana now?”
“And I think that it’s not a lack of compassion that you see up here,” Council Member Rick Mullen reasoned. “It’s probably a little bit of caution.”
With only two “no” votes—one from Peak and an emphatic “no” from Rosenthal—medical marijuana deliveries were banned in Malibu.
“Well, see, I guess that’s part of the great things about democracy,” Peak said wryly, before moving onto the next item.
The 3-2 vote approved the item “adding Chapter 17.75 (Cannabis Regulations) to Malibu Municipal Code Title 17 (Zoning) to prohibit cannabis delivery and to regulate personal cultivation citywide,” according to the council’s staff report.
Council Revisits Coastal Erosion, Calls for Assessment
Following talks of coastal erosion at the Adamson House and Surfrider Beach at a June City Council meeting, Craig George, director of the city’s environmental sustainability department, presented council with an update on the situation. Mike Phipps, a consultant from Cotton, Shires and Associates with a background in coastal erosion, presented the findings.
In short, Malibu is definitely seeing coastal erosion.
A study was done in 1994 that predicted a net long-term erosion rate in the city, but he pointed out that surfers, who—for example—have been surfing in the same spot for decades, could now see the change.
With sea levels rising, oceanic activity (such as waves and tides) is moving toward land, which in turn causes more erosion.
A big problem Malibu faces, according to the consultant, is sediment deficiency.
Beginning in the 1920s, the city—back then a township—dammed up various water basins.
“Things like Rindge Dam and a couple of other reservoirs, those are just choking off sediment supply,” he said to City Council. “ … When in the old days, sediment would have washed off into storm drains and into the ocean.”
The department recommended that the city move forward with a coastal vulnerability assessment, which passed with a unanimous decision.
Peak suggested the city move forward with a plan to collect data over 10 years for future decisions, while Wagner offered to help with the assessment.
Rosenthal also agreed but hoped that this would be a first step in a more comprehensive environmental action plan.
At its next meeting on Feb. 7, California Coastal Commission will discuss the removal of Rindge Dam as part of the Malibu Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project.