July 3, 2008

The City of Santa Barbara adopted a Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ordinance on March 25, 2008, and it became effective on April 24, 2008.

The application packet is now available (click here), and you may start the application process.

As part of the application, you must prepare a document that shows how your dispensary complies with the operational requirements AND the criteria for approval in the Ordinance.  For your convenience, the requirements and the criteria for approval are in this Medical Cannabis Dispensary Permit Application Document.

The application fee has not been established; however, in the interim, we will be charge the Planning Division’s hourly rate for processing time.  Currently, the rate is $180.00/hr.  We will collect a deposit of 10 hours times the hourly rate at the time of application intake, and charge hours against that amount. When the deposit runs out (and we anticipate that will), you will be asked to submit additional funds to continue with the application processing.  Fees increase every July 1.

Staff recommends the following steps before beginning the application process:

1)      Read the adopted Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ordinance

2)      Find a location that meets the requirements of the Ordinance. 

a)      The following maps will help you find a spot:

i)        Citywide map

ii)       Downtown map

iii)     Outer State Street map

iv)     Milpas Street map

v)      Mesa map

b)       The schools on these maps are based on lists from the Santa Barbara County Education Office as of May 2008, and are most likely accurate; however, we recommend that you walk or bike an area that’s at least a one block radius of the proposed site to see if there are any private schools (K-12) in the area.

c)        The maps only show the locations of the known Medical Cannabis Dispensaries as of the dates on the maps.  We recommend that you walk or bike an area that’s at least one block radius of the proposed site to see if there are any other Medical Cannabis Dispensaries in the area.

The remaining steps are outlined in the application packet.

Please check back to this website for additional information.