Commercial cannabis delivery taking shape in Truckee

TRUCKEE, Calif. — A proposal to allow commercial cannabis delivery services in the Town of Truckee inched closer to reality Tuesday after some headway was made on the issue.

The Truckee Planning Commission agreed on a number of conditions for delivery services that should help shape how each would operate.

Those conditions, which will eventually be forwarded to the Town Council, ranged from the issuance of business licenses to security standards.

"It should follow the same process we have in town for other business," said Planning Commission Chairman Seth Kielas on the license issue.

The planning commission, which held a roughly three-hour hearing on the delivery services issue at its Tuesday meeting, also agreed that the market should determine how many of the businesses would exist.

Town Planning Manager Jenna Endres, who is handling the cannabis issue, said there are probably four to five illegal delivery services in town. Those delivery services are probably operating out of houses.

While the planning commission made progress on the delivery services issue, the five-member group is likely to take up the topic again at a meeting in April.

One sticking point centered on setbacks, as it relates to where the businesses would be located. The idea heading into the meeting was that the businesses would be located no closer than 1,000 feet from each other.

But because of a lack of commercial space in town, and the limited number of zones the businesses could be located, the planning commission wants to examine an overlay map with proposed narrower separating standards.

That was a key point for some local cannabis business owners, who objected to proposed zoning requirements.

"It really is a de facto ban," said Brad Farmer, who is the co-owner of High Altitude Healing in Truckee, which provides medical cannabis to patients in the area.

He added, "The zoning map is not an opportunity to be successful for any of us."

But the idea of commercial delivery services did not resonate with everyone at the hearing.

Caroline Ford, chairman of Tahoe Truckee Future Without Drug Dependence, said the group had some concerns with the commercial delivery services proposal.

She said the number of delivery services should be limited to one, and that the business should be located 1,000 feet from sensitive areas, such as schools.

The commercial delivery services issue stems from the passage of Proposition 64 in November 2016. Proposition 64 authorized adults, 21 years and older, to use marijuana on a recreational basis, as well as the personal cultivation of up to six cannabis plants per household.

As a result, the town embarked on a public outreach process throughout most of last year that came to be known as the "Cannabis Dialogue."

There were a number of objectives, including broad community discussion on the issue, before coming up with a plan to address the legalization of recreational marijuana use.

"Really what we saw was a high level of interest in this topic," Endres said.