Marijuana matters dominate Monday’s Costa Mesa Planning Commission agenda

It looks like it’ll be a manic Monday for Costa Mesa planning commissioners, as they’ll mull over a meaty mix of marijuana-related matters.

The commission’s jam-packed agenda includes five applications for medical marijuana manufacturing and distribution businesses, a requested operational expansion of a previously approved extraction facility and two proposed code amendments pertaining to the city’s rules regarding the substance.

First up will be the proposed changes to the city’s municipal code. In both cases, the commission’s votes will be advisory as the final decision on the amendments rests with the City Council.

One is meant to essentially make permanent the provisions of a temporary urgency ordinance the City Council passed last year to prohibit retail sales of marijuana and marijuana products and establishment of dispensaries, as well as limit marijuana cultivation to the extent possible under state law.

Council members originally approved that urgency ordinance in January 2017 following statewide voter passage of Proposition 64, which authorizes people 21 and older to legally possess, use and grow marijuana for recreational purposes, with certain restrictions.

The second code amendment largely pertains to activities permitted under Measure X — a voter-approved initiative that allows businesses that research, test, process and manufacture some medical marijuana products to open in the area north of South Coast Drive, west of Harbor Boulevard, south of MacArthur Boulevard and east of the Santa Ana River, though not in South Coast Collection.

Specifically, the revision would allow “adult-use marijuana to be distributed, manufactured, researched and developed and tested in the same locations and subject to the same permitting process and restrictions as medical marijuana,” according to a staff report.

Several firms will experience that process firsthand Monday as they petition the commission for conditional use permits to open new medical marijuana manufacturing and distribution facilities.

The proposals up for review are:

• Mellow Extracts, which would open in a 4,549-square-foot tenant space at 3505 Cadillac Ave., Unit J5
• Sol Distro, eyed for a 20,000-square-foot space in an existing industrial building at 3560 Cadillac Ave.
• JoshD Farms, which seeks to occupy 10,007 square feet of building space at 3505 Cadillac Ave., Unit F9
• Se7enLeaf LLC, which is looking to launch a 2,299-square-foot operation at 3505 Cadillac Ave., Unit M101, and to open another 4,360-square-foot facility in Unit L3 at the same property

Commissioners also will review a proposed amendment to a previously approved permit for a medical marijuana extraction facility, Oil Haus.

Oil Haus representatives are seeking approval to eventually expand the operation to include laboratory space, testing facilities and additional storage within the same 7,315-square-foot tenant space at 3590 Cadillac Ave., Unit B.

All proposed medical marijuana businesses must meet a host of requirements to open in Costa Mesa, including that they develop detailed security plans, that people younger than 21 not be allowed on site and that cannabis not be consumed at the business at any time in any form.

Even if the commission OKs the requested conditional use permits, that’s just one step in the process.

The operators would still have to secure final city fire-prevention, finance and building safety approvals, as well as obtain medical marijuana business permits and business licenses before they could open. They also would need approval from the state to operate.

Monday’s commission meeting starts at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney