Los Gatos Town Council voted Tuesday to hire a cannabis consultant for the town to investigate the pros and cons of allowing commercial marijuana dispensaries to operate in town.
Los Gatos Town Council voted Tuesday to hire a cannabis consultant for the town to investigate the pros and cons of allowing commercial marijuana dispensaries to operate in town.
The consultant will determine how much tax revenue marijuana sales in Los Gatos could generate and conduct community meetings and surveys to help inform both the town council and the public on what marijuana legalization could look like in Los Gatos.
“It makes sense to gather more information,” Mayor Rob Rennie said. “I’d like to get better information about what our residents are thinking.”
The consultant will present their findings to town council, when it would have the opportunity to put a question about taxing marijuana products on the November ballot. If that passed, council could decide to legalize marijuana usage and sales in town.
The town is allocating $50,000 from the capital and special projects budget reserve to cover the consultant services.
Neighboring cities that sell marijuana products, like San Jose, get all the tax revenue, regardless of where the consumer lives, town attorney Rob Schultz said
San Jose currently has 16 cannabis retail facilities that are expected to generate $17.5 million in revenue in the city for fiscal year 2021/22- Mountain View has three delivery retail cannabis businesses and revenue is estimated to increase by $737,000, or 13.8%, in the current fiscal year.
Christopher Lane, chief marketing officer of San Jose-based dispensary Airfield Supply Co, showed council what a “modern dispensary” looks like in a presentation during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Lane said “several thousand” Los Gatos residents purchase cannabis products from the Airfield Supply Co’s San Jose location.
“Modern cannabis retail is very much a high-end experience, or can be in the right city,” Lane said.
A handful of public commenters raised concerns about public safety, mental health and addiction among youth.
Joanne Rodgers shared a personal anecdote about her sister, who became addicted to drugs including marijuana.
“This would be a determinant to our town, and honestly… this will be a pothead town,” Rodgers said. “How can you put this kind of facility in our town and just think about the money and not think about our kids?”
Resident Donna McCurrie said she was in favor of hiring the consultant.
“I just really feel like we need to do our due diligence, and by going through this process, it’s going to present the issues from both sides and help educate everyone,” McCurrie said.
Los Gatos first took a look at greenlighting commercial cannabis in January 2021, when Town Council directed staff to study the potential cannabis business in Los Gatos and seek public input.
The town attorney hosted 10 meetings with community members and conducted online surveys of residents.
Of the more than 950 people that answered the 2021 survey, 50% were “strongly opposed” to opening commercial cannabis businesses in Los Gatos, while 25% “strongly supported” the businesses.
Shutlz said hiring a consultant would allow a more “professional” and “robust” survey to be done, to ensure there are no residents polled twice, and that responses are gathered from town residents only.
Council will select a cannabis consultant in the coming weeks, and will vote in June on whether to put the question on the November ballot.
“I think over time, demographics change, laws change, taste changes, retail changes,” Councilwoman Maria Ristow said. “I think it would be premature for us not to look at what possibilities for retail we know our citizens are already leaving our community to engage in? Does it make sense in Los Gatos?”
