Santa Barbara County Nearing Final Selection for Retail Cannabis Dispensaries
Local Dispensaries Among Applicants
After a months-long process to select six storefront cannabis dispensaries in Santa Barbara County, the undertaking is about to wrap up.
The county selected six separate unincorporated areas of the county that one retail storefront can occupy each. There are 20 applicants who have made it to the final round and are vying for the six spots. The county is now going to rank them based on “neighborhood compatibility” and site inspections. Only the top-ranked applicant in each area will be able to apply for a cannabis dispensary business license.
Out of the six areas — Orcutt, Los Alamos, Santa Ynez, Isla Vista/Goleta Valley, Eastern Goleta Valley, and Toro Canyon/Summerland — Isla Vista, a college community, is the most popular. Eight of the 20 applications alone were for Isla Vista. Coastal and The Farmacy, two dispensaries that already have locations in Santa Barbara, were among the eight that applied in Isla Vista.
