Could Paso Robles get brick-and-mortar cannabis dispensaries? City will explore options
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Paso Robles council voted 4-1 to revisit cannabis delivery and retail policies.
- Local licensed businesses say storefront bans strain operations and put a damper on tax revenue.
- Staff will return with proposals, but no timeline has been set.
After years of stagnancy on the issue, Paso Robles will consider creating an ordinance to allow brick-and-mortar cannabis dispensaries to operate within city limits.
The City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to direct city staff to bring back a 2022 ordinance that previously allowed recreational marijuana delivery for a one-year period and to explore options for a new ordinance that could allow for storefront retailers.
Councilmember Chris Bausch was the only dissenting vote. He said he was open to supporting recreational delivery but not storefronts.
Tuesday’s vote did not create any new regulations or change any cannabis rules — it only directed city staff to bring cannabis delivery and retail options before the council at a future meeting.
It was not immediately clear when the ordinances would be brought up for consideration.
Where does Paso Robles stand on cannabis now?
There hasn’t been much movement on the subject of cannabis in Paso Robles since 2022, when the city first approved a temporary ordinance to allow recreational marijuana delivery services to operate within city limits.
That ordinance included a one-year sunset and expired in 2023. The three medical delivery services licensed at the time — Dubs Green Garden, Aquamarine and Kinfolk — were the three businesses given the chance to deliver recreationally during that one-year period.
Despite the sunset, however, Ernest and Grace Hall, 30-year Paso Robles residents and owners of Dubs Green Garden, said both the city and the state continued to approve their recreational delivery licenses after the one-year period was up.
They didn’t know about the sunset, but when they found out about it, they stopped delivering recreationally of their own accord, they told The Tribune.
But according to the Halls and others who spoke during Tuesday night’s meeting, limiting cannabis services to only medical delivery puts a major strain on business.
“I believe Paso is being fiscally irresponsible and not allowing us to open our doors to the public,” Grace Hall said. “The amount of tax revenue that we could bring in that could be applied to the Black Oak area (where their business is located) would make significant impacts. Why won’t the city allow our business to progress?”
Plus, cannabis delivery businesses established outside Paso Robles city limits — like those in San Luis Obispo or Grover Beach — can deliver to Paso customers, while Paso’s own cannabis license-holders cannot. And there was debate at Tuesday’s meeting about whether or not the city has gotten all of its due tax revenue from the businesses that deliver from outside city limits.
According to city treasurer Ryan Cornell, the city received about $70,000 in tax revenue from recreational delivery businesses established outside of city limits last year.
Shawn Bean, owner of The Source dispensary and delivery service in SLO, said during public comment that he thinks he paid nearly all of that to the city despite being only one of several services that deliver to Paso customers.
Bean urged the city to allow its own residents to compete with outsiders.
“Even though these people are my direct competitors, I want to make some points right now that restricting them to medical only is — it’s not a viable business,” Bean said. “It’s just really not a viable business.”
Tuesday night’s discussion was not aimed at any one business. However, Dubs Green Garden is the only licensed medical delivery service that is currently in operation, the Halls said.
Kinfolk never opened for medical or recreational delivery, according to the city. Community development director Warren Frace said the third medical delivery license-holder, Aquamarine, currently holds a conditional use permit but was having issues with its landlord.
But the Halls, who shared their building off Black Oak Drive with Aquamarine, said that’s not accurate. Rather, the owner of Aquamarine died last year, Grace Hall told the council.
“He is not here anymore,” she said. “I also let the city know in April that everything had been moved out of his unit. He is not here anymore. So, I don’t understand why his license was renewed with the state of California, the cannabis bureau, and he’s not around anymore.”
The city did not immediately provide a response during the meeting.
Several SLO County residents showed up in support of allowing for recreational delivery and retail storefronts in Paso Robles — and specifically in support of Dubs Green Garden.
Local entrepreneur Cliff Branch said he’s leased multiple properties to the Halls and witnessed their struggles to thrive in the cannabis industry. He said he doesn’t like how the family has been treated throughout their battle to get approval for recreational delivery and a storefront.
“Basically, the city has acquiesced to a situation where this family is going to go out of business,” Branch said. “All they want to do is get a damn permit.”
At least six others also gave public comment backing Dubs Green Garden.
A spokesperson for the Paso Robles and Templeton Chamber of Commerce spoke in support of forward momentum on the cannabis issue, saying approving existing medical delivery services for recreational delivery would create a “level playing field” for locals and create competition for the businesses that deliver from outside Paso Robles.
Former Paso Robles City Council candidate Jeff Carr said he supported allowing storefront retailers.
“The fact that we’re even talking about just delivery is really kind of silly,” he said. “Other cities have been operating storefronts successfully, safely, with no problems at all. People would prefer a storefront. Children aren’t buying at storefronts.”
After hearing from the public, Councilmembers Fred Strong and Kris Beal kicked off the council discussion in support of a recommendation that staff return with a permanent version of the previous recreational delivery policy, in addition to exploring options to consider retail storefronts in the future.
Councilmember Steve Gregory said he went into Tuesday night’s conversation not in favor of retail storefronts, but after hearing the testimonies, he changed his mind.
“When you have a professional delivery service that’s a competitor of the Halls recommending that we go retail, it says a lot to me because it protects the process,” Gregory said.
He continued: “If we just allow delivery, it’s not enough. We’re going to continue to let the market get penetrated by competitors not paying their taxes.”
Mayor John Hamon, who previously voted against the recreational delivery policy in 2022, also voted in favor of directing staff to bring it back before the council.
He said: “I’m willing again, as far as this point in time, to reenter this discussion and get some more information for the council to deliberate on, and also to make a better playing field for our local suppliers that are in business and could help many people here in our city.”
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