Goleta Limits Cannabis Shops Severely

One in Old Town Heritage District Allowed

Goleta Mayor Pro Tem Kyle Richards led the council to limit recreational cannabis stores in the city. | Credit: City of Goleta

Goleta’s City Council took a critical step to prevent a “Green Mile” from forming along Hollister Avenue, voting on June 4 to allow one single cannabis retail storefront in the city’s Old Town Heritage District. That’s a far cry from the nine applications the city had received for Old Town — a quantity that horrified the neighborhood and the councilmembers, who immediately began working to modify the rules. The council ended up establishing wide buffer zones at schools, the Community Center, and residential areas, as well as chopping the sanctioned 15 shops down to six in the entire city. It also ultimately changed the process from a land-use one to a business license set of rules in line with the state’s licensure. But who will own the solo shop in the Heritage District is an open and confusing question, discussed in detail by public speakers at the June 4 meeting.

The dotted blue and yellow line shows the Goleta Old Town Historic District that will hold one cannabis retail store. The two existing medicinal stores on Daley and Gaviota streets are just outside the border. The grey sections are the buffer zones around the Community Center and residential areas. Remaining retail areas are in blue and pink. The green stars mark applicant hopefuls.

Goleta opened applications for recreational cannabis shops
on a first-come, first-served basis in August 2018. Many speakers last week
complained that the same operators hired different land agents to line up early
and file multiple applications. Indeed, in the list of 15 applicants, five
names appear twice. At last week’s meeting, the council voted to limit each
cannabis operator to only one shop.

Interestingly, three people from Coastal Dispensary spoke in favor of the new rules, even though they got the boot from their spot opposite the Goleta Valley Community Center because that buffer was widened to 600 feet. Devon Wardlow of Coastal Dispensary — which has been struggling to open a storefront in Santa Barbara on Chapala Street — lauded the councilmembers for listening to their community and advised them to require that the city’s cannabis operations have 50 percent Santa Barbara County resident ownership. Coastal’s entire management team are UCSB graduates, she told the Independent. Next, Coastal’s Ben Condron told the council the first five in the permit queue were real estate investment groups in Los Angeles and Sacramento, and that four of them seemed to be the same investment firm. John Giammanco, Coastal’s delivery manager, piled “fishy multiple licenses” and “definitely some manipulation going on” to the bonfire.