By Charles M. Kelly
The issue returned to council because, according to the council on June 16. The council voted 3-2 to take no action on the matter. However, the local medical cannabis delivery business has the legal right to pursue a citizen referendum on the matter. City Manager David Maistros said that ERBA Catalina, which provides medical cannabis delivery in Avalon, asked the city to amend the current ordinance to also allow the business to deliver adult use recreational cannabis.
Background
The following is not a transcript but highlights from the discussion.
“Because the electorate has not approved adult use recreational delivery and therefore there’s no provision for a tax. ERBA has proposed a development agreement be entered [into] where ERBA would offer paying the city 5% of their gross receipts,” Maistros said.
So the council directed staff to bring the item back for further discussion.
According to the staff report, in March 2020, Avalon voters considered two advisory measures about cannabis use.
Measure E asked: “Should the City of Avalon expand its current commercial cannabis ordinance from medical delivery only to allow for adult-use/recreational delivery sales within the City of Avalon city limits?”
Result: 58.45% of voters said no.
Measure F asked: ““Should the City of Avalon expand its current commercial cannabis ordinance to allow for a cannabis storefront location or dispensary within the City of Avalon city limits?”
Result: 65.14% of voters said no. “Since the advisory measures, City Staff have not received any significant request or call for expansion of the cannabis ordinance from the public at large. Additionally, the medical cannabis delivery permit was suspended from September 2021 to 2025. During that time period, City Staff did not receive any significant inquiries, or requests from the community at large for the return of medical cannabis,” according to the staff report by Maistros and Senior Management Analyst Devin Hart.
Maistros told the council one option was to place a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot as either an advisory measure or a final consideration.
The deadline to put a measure on the ballot would be Aug. 7, 2026.
“Additionally, I would point out that even if a ballot measure is approved, it’s still not clear the council would be authorized to award the newly elected or the newly created recreational adult use permit to the previous existing medical delivery permit holder. So, that would have to be fleshed out if that in fact happened,” Maistros said.
“Option two, uh you could amend the Avalon municipal code and direct staff and the city attorney to draft a development agreement with the existing permit holder as they requested in the April meeting,” Maistros said.
A third option, which Maistros mentioned later, would be to let the interested party pursue a referendum petition.
“I would point out that based on ERBA’s fee projections, this decision should not be used as a viable revenue stream for the city in the sense that in the fact that Herb is projecting it would bring $60,000 annually in revenue to the city. As a measuring stick, that’s 365 days, $60,000 that equates to roughly two cruise ships, which would bring in that same revenue stream. So, while that’s a sum of money, I don’t know that it would replace any existing revenue stream,” Maistros said.
Mayor Anni Marshall asked if they got the required signature and voters approved, would Avalon have to issue a request for proposals for cannabis delivery.
“One of the things it would depend on what the ballot initiative said,” City Attorney Scott Campbell said.
Maistros said it was important to flesh that out to make sure there was no exposure to the city.
Campbell said current state law only allows for transportation of medical cannabis.
He also said it would be a violation of current federal law.
“If they were to change this before they could deliver they would have to get the state law to be amended to allow recreational,” Campbell said.
He said the business could grown the cannabis on Catalina if there was a place to grow it.
He said the operator would have to have the state law amended.
Elizabeth Wenger, co-founder of ERBA, said it was their understanding that if Avalon issued a permit, they could bring cannabis to the Island. “The only reason why we can only bring medical now is because that’s the only permit allowed on Catalina in Avalon,” Wenger said.
“The state statute, as I recall it, only allows medical because we went there at the time that we had that state law amended. It was state regulation. It was only for medical cannabis,” Campbell said.
Maistros said Avalon worked with multiple consultants as well as the California Department of Cannabis Control to get approval to bring medical cannabis to Catalina.
Elizabeth Wenger said there was no difference between medical and adult use cannabis.
“The license itself would have to say that they can take it over for medical purposes and then convert it to recreational,” Campbell said.
“If their license with the state doesn’t have that, they’re not going to be able to do that,” Campbell said.
“I think we before we say, ‘Okay, yeah, you do it, and then they come back and go, “well, whoops, we can’t,’ that’s a waste of everybody’s time,” Marshall said.
“Not withstanding subsection E, transportation of cannabis and cannabis products may be conducted via waterway to licences located on Catalina Island,” Wenger said.
“It says nothing about the header actually says Department of Cannabis Control medicinal and adult use commercial cannabis regulations,” Wenger said.
She said the Department of Cannabis Control made no distinction between medial and recreational.
“I have to look at that specifically because there may be under the section that just deals with medical,” Campbell said.
According to city staff it would cost about $17,000 for Avalon to put a measure on the November ballot. The cost for a citizen referendum was not known.
As the council and the business owners discussed the matter, the city attorney was looking up the law on his computer.
“We’re not controlling the smokers now,” Marshall said.
“This is just going to exacerbate that,” Marshall said.
“If we were in a bigger city, that’s fine. But, you know, you’ve got a vacation rental next to a person that has two or three kids in their house. It and it’s legal to smoke inside, but not if you’re renting,” Marshall said.
“What about residents that would like to smoke, don’t have a medical card,” asked Councilmember Mary Schickling.
Marshall put the cost of a medical cannabis card at $39.
Wenger argued that a lot of people don’t want a medical cannabis card.
She also named other cannabis products other than the cannabis people smoke.
Councilmember Yesenia De La Rosa said it had been a long time since the Avalon community had voted on the issue.
“Since then, I think there’s been a lot of cities that’s seen some benefits. Whether that’s uh their general fund, youth programs, uh, public safety, that’s what other cities have been using it for,” De La Rosa said.
“But I think for me, if our community has already spoken on this, I don’t think it’s fair for us to take that vote. It would be for a community to voice themselves,” De La Rosa said.
Councilmember Michael Ponce said the community had voted no twice.
“It’s us taking away their voice to accommodate you and that’s not right,” Ponce said.
Councilmember Lisa Lavelle said she was “in the middle of the road”. She agreed that voters made a decision.
“I have gotten a number of concerns from hotel owners, phone calls and messages just saying we’re concerned about the cost of cleaning, we’re concerned about extra access, we’re concerned about additional medical staff and runs, we’re concerned about a number of things like that,” Lavelle said.
She said she thought there was validity in some of the concerns raised.
Fire Chief Michael Alegria said he could tell the council that people were smoking in hotel rooms because the Fire Department was going on fire alarm calls in hotel rooms and restaurant bathrooms.
City Attorney Scott Campbell said he looked at Mayor Marshall’s letter to the state on the subject and at the legislation. “It does not say recreational or medical. So, under California, under the regulation, recreational or medical cannabis would be okay. You still have to get through the federal authorities,” Campbell said. He was apparently referring to the fact that anything shipped to Catalina must pass through federal waters or federal airspace.
Schickling suggested moving forward. “I’m saying let’s go for it and give it a try, you know, and if it if it’s bad, then yank it,” she said.
“Once you let it out, you can’t bring it back,” Marshall said.
Former council member Cinde Cassidy argued that the least expensive thing to do would be for ERBA Catalina to get signatures to put a measure on the November ballot.
Cassidy said it was not easy to clean the smell of smoke from a room.
“It’s in the sheets. It’s in the carpets. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be something that’s smoked in the room,” Cassidy said.
“We’ve heard two for voting or referendums. We have one, let it happen. We have me concerned about it and I don’t know where Miss Lisa is,” Marshall said.
Marshall made a motion for the council to take no further action.
Marshall, Ponce, and De La Rosa voted aye. Lavelle and Schickling voted no.