Costa Mesa City Council members are grappling with just how many cannabis shops the city should have.
It comes after officials recently shot down an application for a new shop in town because the city currently has 9 retail shops as officials raise questions over why a limit wasn’t put in place when cannabis was legalized by voters in 2020.
“People say ‘How many do we need?’ I honestly don’t know the answer to that. What I do know is that I don’t think the government should decide that. We live in a market that’s a capitalist market and every business owner should have the opportunity to form their own niche and compete in the free market,” said Mayor John Stephens during a public hearing at a city council meeting on Feb. 20.
As of February, there are 30 cannabis businesses that have received operating permits from the city.
While Santa Ana has a cap of 30 cannabis retail shops allowed in the city, Costa Mesa hasn’t enacted any ordinances that limit the amount of storefronts when Measure Q passed in 2020.
Planning commissioners have recommended Costa Mesa put a cap of 15 cannabis storefronts.
“The community voted for it, they thought it’d be great. They relied on us as a council to get a regulation right to make sure people like you, Mr. Adams, got into a process that was fair, honest and decent,” said Councilman Don Harper to the cannabis shop applicant, Mark Adams.
“I think you’ve run into a wall here where our process didn’t give you enough signals about what this city needs to look like. It’s not fair to you at all.”
The council voted 4-3 on upholding a decision made by planning commissioners, also 4-3, in December to deny a conditional use permit to Evolv Herbal, a cannabis shop that presented itself to cater to older customers in search of alternate medicinal uses.
“We’re still kind of grappling with what the amendments to the ordinances look like and so this is a bit of an awkward situation to be in,” said Councilman Jeffrey Harlan.
The planning commission recommended a distance of at least 500 feet between cannabis storefronts to avoid clustering, according to a city council staff report from April 2021.
They explored the option again during a meeting in January 2024 where they discussed limiting the number of permits issued to cannabis storefronts to 30, according to a staff report.
However city council has not implemented the recommendation.
The ordinance only prohibits cannabis shops from being located within 1000 feet of schools, playgrounds, child care centers, or homeless shelters. It also prohibits them from operating within 600 feet of youth centers and residential or industrial zones.
Council members ultimately denied the shop license Feb. 20, citing fears it could create a concentration of cannabis businesses near Newport Boulevard, across from Triangle Square.
The location was slated to be next door to an already existing cannabis shop and would take the place of a vacant fortune telling business.
In December, planning commissioners said the new cannabis shop would go against the city’s planning document, which calls for a mix of goods and services in developments, according to a staff report. Commissioners also found it wouldn’t improve the city’s budget.
“At the end of the day this is a discretionary approval. Yes we have an ordinance, yes we have a code, but there’s a reason that we are walking thinking competent human beings up here such that we can make discretionary decisions,” said Councilwoman Andrea Marr.
Marr said an additional cannabis shop strays too far from the city’s development plans.
“Ultimately this comes down to the type of city that we want and the type of city that we want to plan for and I find it not compatible with our current land use policy.”
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