Antioch City Council Approves Cannabis Facility in Old K-Mart Building

On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council approved a Use Permit, Variance and Design Review application for a cannabis facility in the City of Antioch in a 5-0 vote.

Located at the now closed K-Mart Store building (3625 E 18th Street), the cannabis facility will have indoor cultivation, distribution, non-volatile manufacturing and retail dispensary with delivery. In total, the facility will be within the 94,338 square foot building.

The facility is anticipated to employ 100 people of both full-time and part-time jobs and is anticipated to grow city revenues.

Sufyan Hamouda, a compliance consultant for Rapidx Growth, told the council that the project was a “fully vertically integrated cannabis operation that has the ability to greatly benefit the Antioch community” and hoped the recommendations by the Planning Commission ere accepted.

Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock also confirmed armed security which would result in two armed guards in the day and one at night. Antioch Police had approved the security plan.

Councilmemebr Mike Barbanica asked about local hire.

Attorney Thomas Lloyd Smith stated when they get the operational agreement, a portion of it with incentives would be reviewed by council which may make them eligible for a deduction in what they pay.

Barbanica asked about the 600-ft and proximity to local homes.

Antioch Police Captain Morefield stated the applicant came in at or above all the standards they require while the large parking lot being so big, the business is set far back and have no concerns about the variance as the operation is in the back.

Mayor Lamar Thorpe asked about the applicants experience and equity measures.

Applicant Hans Benson said he has worked with cultivation and distribution in both Oakland and Mendocino while partnering with others within he industry. He planned to work with both the city to develop a program to benefit the community.

Thorpe replied that the City of Antioch was not interested in people being a “front man” for someone else trying to make money on these licenses and were “interested in operators who will be here for the long haul.”

He admitted to being frustrated with some of the applicants.

“I have become quite frustrated with some of the operators who, people who claim to be operators, come to our process and haven’t opened their doors,” said Thorpe. “As a reminder, we can quickly pull these permits back, they are not like other things so I want to make sure we have the right people coming to Antioch, particular with this business.”

Bensen said further down in the process in the negotiations, he wanted to find a way of how they could benefit each other from this project and was “all on board”.

The council then approved the project in a 5-0 vote.

According to the Staff Report:

Project Overview

The applicant proposes to operate a cannabis facility at 3625 East 18thStreetin an existing +/-95,420square foot commercial building that was previously a K-Mart store. The cannabis facility will consist of indoor cultivation, distribution, non-volatile manufacturing and a retail dispensary with delivery. The facility will employ an estimated 100 employees. The applicant has indicated that at the beginning of operations there will be a mix of part-time and full-time employees but once the facility has reached full build-out they expect all of the employees to be full-time.

The proposed cultivation operation will take place completely indoors and consist of 87 flower rooms that will occupy 47,715 square feet of floor space; however, the cultivation will be a two-tier grow and therefore the total cannabis cultivation area will be 95,340 square feet. The cultivation operation will work seven days a week in three shifts: 5am-2pm, 9am-6pm and 1pm-10pm. The applicant estimates that 50 total employees will be a part of this operation. The cultivation licenses will consist of 10 Type 2ASmall indoor licenses. Each Type 2A Small indoor license allows up to 10,000 square feet of mature canopy area.

The cultivation operation will also have an A-Type 4 Nursery license in order to allow the propagation of immature cannabis plants. The nursery area will only produce clones, immature plants, seeds, and other agricultural products used specifically for the propagation and cultivation of cannabi

s. Once the immature cannabis plant is ready to flower, it will be transported within the facility to the identified mature canopy area within one of the 10 Type 2A Small indoor licenses. The Nursery license itself does allow for the sale of the immature cannabis plants to other state of California licensed farms, however, under this proposed project, Radix Growth will not be selling or distributing cannabis from the Nursery license. The intention of this Nursery license is to begin the growth of seedlings before planting them within the mature area.

The proposed manufacturing and distribution operation will be located at the northern end of the building and will occupy approximately 7,785 square feet. The manufacturing operation will operate in identical shifts to the cultivation operation and the applicant estimates that 40 total employees will be a part of this operation. The manufacturing operation will be conducted under a type 6 manufacturing license which allows for non-volatile manufacturing. Non-volatile manufacturing uses a mechanical extraction method or non-volatile solvents, such as carbon dioxide, ethanol, water, or cooking oils, to extract cannabis oils. The distribution operation will operate under a type 11 distribution license. A licensed distributor is responsible for: transporting cannabis goods, arranging for the testing of cannabis products, conducting quality assurance reviews of cannabis goods to ensure that they comply with all of the packaging and labeling requirements, and transporting cannabis goods between licensees.

The proposed retail operation will take place in the southern portion of the building near the existing storefront entrance. The retail operation will be seven days a week from 8am to 8pm and the applicant estimates that 10 total employees will be a part of this operation. The retail operation will occupy an approximately 1,625 square foot floor area and can only be accessed by customers presenting a valid identification to a security guard. The applicant is not proposing to sell any cannabis paraphernalia at this time. Staff has added a condition of approval that any future sales of paraphernalia shall be subject to the review and approval of the Zoning Administrator. The applicant estimates that no more than four delivery vans will be used for delivery. The delivery vehicles will have no markings or indications on the exterior that would indicate cannabis goods are being delivered.

Project plans, detailed description of the business, and neighborhood responsibility plan are included as Attachments B, Cand D, respectively, to the staff report

Site Security

As part of their application the applicant submitted a security plan for the site. The security plan addressed the following issues:

• Physical elements of the site such as location of the building, outdoor lighting, and parking areas.
• Electronic security such as controlled access areas and surveillance cameras.
• Compliance and procedures such as inventory management, cash handling, and employee training.
• On site physical security services related to the number of physical security guards present at the site.

The Antioch Police Department attended a preliminary application meeting where they communicated their expectations for the security plan for this facility to the applicant. Upon submittal of the formal application, the security plan was reviewed by the Antioch Police Department. The Police Department recommended that the security plan explicitly state that a minimum of two uniformed and armed security guards be on-site during all hours of retail operation and/or delivery and a minimum of one uniformed and armed security guard be on-site after hours.

Staff has included this recommendation as a condition of approval in the attached resolution. Staff has also included a condition in the attached resolution requiring the Antioch Police Department to conduct a site inspection to assess the security of the site prior to a certificate of occupancy being issued for the site. Any changes that the Antioch Police Department deem necessary upon site inspection will be incorporated into a revised site security plan that will then be submitted for their review and approval. No certificate of occupancy will be issued without final approval of a site security plan by the Antioch Police Department. In addition to the security inspection prior to issuance of certificate of occupancy, the business is required to submit to annual security audits conducted by a third party or City staff.

Variance

Variances are intended to resolve practical difficulties or physical hardships. Each zoning classification has specific development standards which projects must meet, such as setbacks or parking requirements. There are occasions, however, when the strict application of such standards may be inappropriate because of special characteristics of the property or area. The variance procedure is designed to permit minor adjustments to the zoning regulations when there are special or extraordinary circumstances that apply to a parcel of land or a building that prevent the property from being used to the extent intended by the zoning.

The Antioch Municipal Code requires that Cannabis Businesses be located a minimum of 600 feet from any residentially zoned property. The proposed project site is a large shopping center parcel with a parking field that is shared by the entire center. The southernmost property line of the project site is approximately 360 feet from the nearest residentially zoned property but the actual building where the Cannabis Business will be conducted is over 700 feet from the nearest residentially zoned property. The Antioch Cannabis Guidelines state that the separation should be measured from the furthest extent of the Cannabis Business operation, which in this case would be the building. However, since State Law requires the separation to be measured from property line to property line a variance is required.

In order to grant a variance, four findings must be made (Antioch Municipal Code Section 9-5.2703). If an application can meet all four of the findings, then the variance can be granted. Conversely, if any one of the findings cannot be made, the variance should be denied.

The four findings and their applicability to the variance request for a reduction in the 600 foot setback requirement are as follows:

1. That there are exceptional or extraordinary circumstances or conditions applicable to the property involved, or to the intended use of the property, that do not apply generally to the property or class of use in the same zone or vicinity.

The intended use of the property is commercial zoning and was specifically included in the Cannabis Overlay district to allow for operation of a Cannabis Business. The exceptional circumstance for this property is that the parcel includes parking that is shared by the entire shopping center. There is a recorded reciprocal easement for all 5 parcels within the shopping center to allow parking for all the businesses. The project parcel is being held to the setback standards for a parking lot that is not solely being used by the project parcel.

2. That the granting of such variance will not be materially detrimental to the public health or welfare or injurious to the property or improvements in such zone or vicinity.

Granting the variance would not be detrimental to the public health or welfare because the use of the cannabis facility exceeds the 600footsetback requirement. Even if the property boundary line were to shift to meet the setback requirement the same result would occur since the parking lot is shared among all parcels in the shopping center.

3. That because of special circumstances applicable to the subject property, including size, shape, topography, location, or surroundings, the strict application of the zoning provisions is found to deprive the subject property of privileges enjoyed by other properties in the vicinity under the identical zone classifications.

Due to the shape of the property boundary to include the shared parking lot, the project parcel is within the 600 foot setback. The project sites business operations meet the setback requirements. Due to the strict interpretation of the 600 foot setback being applied from the edge of the cannabis property to the edge of the residential property, the property would be deprived of its intended use outlined in the General Plan.

4. That the granting of such variance will not adversely affect the comprehensive General Plan.

The proposed use of the project site is consistent with the General Plan and Cannabis Business overlay zoning district. The applicant’s request would not adversely affect the comprehensive General Plan.

To watch the council meeting, visit: https://www.antiochca.gov/government/city-council-meetings/06-22-21/