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Grover Beach approves pot rules, halves number of dispensaries

May 17, 2017

The Grover Beach City Council formally approved a pair of ordinances Monday night that will allow medical marijuana businesses to operate in the city. However, the council made a last-minute change decreasing the number of dispensaries that will be allowed to open in the city from four to two.

Following a 30-day grace period that is now underway, medical marijuana businesses will be allowed to apply for permits in Grover Beach. Under its new rules, the South County city plans to allow cultivation, manufacturing, transportation, distribution, testing and sales of medical marijuana.

Grover Beach will allow medical marijuana businesses to operate in industrial zones. The businesses must obtain standard land use permits, as well as commercial cannabis permits, a new element of Grover Beach’s city planning scheme.

There is expected to be competition for the two dispensary permits the city plans to award. More than two marijuana businesses have expressed interest in opening a dispensary in Grover Beach.

With its ordinances formally adopted, Grover Beach is slated to become the first city in San Luis Obispo County to allow cannabis businesses to operate in the aftermath of Proposition 64 passing. It is also envisioned that once the state of California begins licensing recreational marijuana shops in 2018, Grover Beach may permit pot businesses that cater to all adults, rather than just medical patients.

In addition to now having a regulatory framework for pot businesses, Grover Beach already has a marijuana tax regime in place. In conjunction with the statewide vote to legalize cannabis, Grover Beach voters backed a pot tax measure on last November’s ballot.

The initiative imposes a maximum 5 percent tax on gross receipts for medical marijuana business activity and a maximum 10 percent tax on non-medical marijuana businesses. Additionally, pot farms and nurseries will be taxed at a maximum of $25 per square foot of canopy on the first 5,000 square feet and $10 per square foot thereafter. An additional excise tax was passed as part of Prop. 64.


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Pot ‘n’ potholes.


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You know, I’ve never liked the mean little town of Grover City. Ok, I know the name was changed to Grover Beach years ago to try to bring in those tourist dollars, but it’s still a slum. I lived there for many years until I couldn’t stand it anymore. For one thing, the city water department raised the rates as often as they legally could, but for some reason that money rarely seemed to go to real improvements like street repair. Take a drive on many Grover streets today, it’s like boating the rapids. So where’s all that money going, hmm?


I once took a trip to Yosemite, forgetting that I had a water bill coming due. When I arrived home on a Friday early afternoon, I found the water turned off to my house. I went down to the city immediately and paid the bill but was told that they couldn’t see fit to turn the water back on until the next work day, which was Monday. So I was without water for in inadvertent mistake for parts of 4 days. It felt like the rude counter lady was wanting to teach me a lesson.


Then my wife started making soap at home for a crafts website we were trying to get up and running. The city got wind of it somehow and told her she had to buy a permit to do business in town. So she did. A couple of years after that we moved to another city in northern Cal, but the city kept sending her bills with ominous sounding warning letters that she’d better pay or else, which I considered extortion. I finally convinced her that that was BS and she stopped sending them free money.


On top of all of this are the LOT of lowlifes that live there. So yeah, two marijuana dispensaries fits. Also, though I understand that homelessness is a real issue and that many people are such through no fault of their own and deserve understanding, a lot of them are just criminals and druggies with baditudes. Slobs, rude as hell and many dangerous. Another fact, Grover City has more registered sexual predators than any of the other (larger) cities on the central coast.


I realize that some are trying hard to improve the place, and some positive strides have been made, but really, the place needs a total makeover. A good start would be to get rid of the greedy, mean spirited jerks in city hall. Then send the criminals packing. Next, hire people who know how to plan. Having trashy, junky stores and smelly auto repair shops behind chain link fences on the main street is not conducive to likability.


One more thing. This is in the form of unsolicited advice that might sound off the wall, but you’ll notice that San Luis Obispo, on the opposite end of the likability scale, has lots of tall trees and vegetation. No dummies, they know that lots of plants and trees make places beautiful and welcoming. Yet for some reason, Grover likes to keep their trees (in comparison to SLO) small and sparse. Once they start growing above a certain size, they cut ’em down. Look at Grand ave.


Anyway, thanks for allowing me the chance to vent a bit.


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5,000sf can easily accommodate 100 lights, each of which will produce $20k per year in product.


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25 dollars a square foot tax so much for planing 5 acres it would be 12500 dollars in tax for 5000 square Feet! Not sure you could make any profit?


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It may be doable at $12,500… but your math is incorrect. 5000sf will cost $125,000. I’m sure growers are currently abandoning their current grow sites to take advantage of the great deals to be found in GB.


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customers are going to be lined up around the block all hours of operation.


Get ready Grover. It’s going to be a boom town.


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Good thinking GB: fewer dispensaries, less competition, higher prices, more tax revenue. Not well thought-out. No surprise here.


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I wonder which two insiders will be awarded those permits and which public officials / employees will financially benefit.


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Wouldn’t be surprised to hear a friend/relative or such of Mayor Shoals to be involved, he certainly has no problem flushing away the money from the ratepayers of the San District.


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