This city could be first in SLO County to allow cannabis lounges — but what are they?
Grover Beach could soon become the first local city with what essentially equates to cannabis bars if a new ordinance is passed later this year.
The City Council directed staff on Monday to pursue an ordinance that would allow cannabis lounges at commercial cannabis retailers in the city.
Currently Grover Beach has four approved cannabis retailers: 805 Beach Breaks, Natural Healing Center, Urbn Leaf and Jushi, which is still under construction.
“The City of Grover Beach currently has three cannabis retailers operating in a safe and responsible way with a fourth under construction,” Grover Beach Mayor Jeff Lee said in a news release Wednesday. “Allowing our retailers to expand their business operations will continue to help strengthen our local economy, further transform our commercial spaces, and create new jobs and tax revenue for the Grover Beach community.”
What is a cannabis lounge?
Since California voters legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, a number of retailers have begun popping up across the county selling cannabis products to the general public.
Where you can consume cannabis, however, is still restricted by state law: It is not allowed in public locations like on sidewalks, in parks or in vehicles, and can also be prohibited by property owners for housing units they rent out.
Because of this, consumption lounges have opened across the United States, offering a place for adults to smoke, vape or eat cannabis products in a legally allowed setting.
(Unlike tobacco products — where indoor smoking is prohibited in most public spaces in California — the state does allow indoor smoking of cannabis products in these consumption lounges.)
Thes locations notably include the The Original Cannabis Cafe in West Hollywood, NuWu Cannabis in Las Vegas and Moe Greens in San Francisco.
“It’s very similar to any type of bar or even a restaurant in terms of their appearance,” senior planner Rafael Castillo told the Grover Beach City Council during its meeting Monday.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products are not allowed to be sold on-site.
How would cannabis lounges operate in Grover Beach?
Under the Grover Beach ordinance, which is expected to be brought to the City Council in March, the city’s four existing permitted retailers would be allowed to operate lounges at their locations, according to Wednesday’s release.
The city said all four retailers have “expressed interest in adding a cannabis lounge to expand their customer base and provide additional sales opportunities.”
According to the release, additional tax revenues from the new aspects of the businesses would help support city initiatives and projects; the city says the cannabis industry has added more than 200 jobs to the local economy in recent years and generated more than $2 million in cannabis tax revenues in the last fiscal year.
The City Council did specify some conditions for the ordinance.
According to the release, a retailer would be required to obtain an additional commercial cannabis permit from the city before being allowed to add a cannabis lounge on their property.
Those lounges would not be permitted to be visible from any public space, though the businesses could operate both indoor and outdoor lounges “as long as ventilation systems are installed to prevent odors from being detected from adjacent properties and the public right-of-way.”
The Grover Beach Police Department will also be enlisted to help ensure lounge employees “are trained to recognize impairment in customers to help prevent the over-serving of cannabis to consumers,” according to the release.
“If our chief of police doesn’t have any public safety concerns, then I sure as heck do not,” Councilwoman Karen Bright said during the meeting Monday. “I have faith in our PD. ... They’ve come this far in this new industry to our city without a whole lot of issues.”
The ordinance is expected to be brought back to the City Council in March, and if approved then would go into effect later in the spring.
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