City Attorney Explains Why the Marijuana Moratorium

So how does Rancho Santa Margarita keep the pot business out of town? It could have tried to rely on its law, but that wouldn't have been the most effective, according to city attorney Greg Simonian.

He and city manager Steve Hayman came up with the idea of using moratoriums to prevent new medical marijuana dispensaries from establishing themselves in the city limits. The city can fall back on moratoriums for two years, thereby buying itself time to see how cases involving dispensaries and the cities of Lake Forest, Dana Point and Anaheim play out in the Fourth District Court of Appeal.

Section 9.03.050 of the city's municipal code basically prevents business from operating in illegal activities. However, those are the same ones being litigated in court "and we don't know what the outcome will be," Simonian said.

It's a complicated issue, a bit like hitting a moving target as it relates to the law. With a prescription, a person can step out of a dispensary with pot in hand and walk right past an Orange County Sheriff deputy, but two steps further be arrested by a DEA agent.

"The City’s zoning laws are essentially the same as those of Lake Forest and are similar to what other cities have enacted," Simonian said. "It’s the same issue currently up on appeal to the Fourth District Court of Appeal in the Lake Forest case. At this time, we do not yet have an answer from the court in that case, but what we do know, based on the city’s land use regulatory authority, is that the city can enact a temporary moratorium (for up to two years) to study this type of use from a land use regulatory perspective, so the city is taking the moratorium approach as opposed to relying solely on what's currently the zoning code at this time.

"It's not enough to rely on current zoning provisions because that's the subject of the pending Lake Forest appeal. The city’s approach prevents medical marijuana distribution facilities from establishing and operating within the city during the moratorium period while the city’s land use and planning staff study the various regulatory options and changes in the law. In doing so, the city is maintaining the status quo. We await more definitive guidance from the courts regarding this unsettled area of the law.”

The item became an issue after it was discovered that businesses were operating as medicinal marijuana dispensaries in RSM’s business park, but also because of the large number of inquiries at city hall from businesses wanting to open shop in Rancho Santa Margarita.