Marijuana and Merced splash pad on the docket for Monday meeting
Merced will talk about medical marijuana and a city park, among other topics, during Monday’s regular City Council meeting.
A study session on marijuana is set for 5 p.m. at City Hall, 678 W. 18th St. The regular meeting begins at 7 p.m.
The City Council approved four medical marijuana dispensaries and indoor cultivation during a July meeting. The dispensaries would be allowed in commercial offices, but the council has said the city will not take applications from potential dispensary owners until it has a regulatory system in place.
The city hired Fairfield-based SCI Consulting Group in February to suggest regulations and set up a process to select the city’s four dispensaries, according to records. The $108,290 contract is compatible with Proposition 64, the voter initiative that legalized recreational marijuana, according to city staffers.
SCI will give the study session presentation, according to city staffers.
Voters approved Proposition 64 in November, making recreational use of marijuana legal for adults 21 and over. Adults are allowed to carry 1 ounce of marijuana or 8 grams of concentrate under the new law, which also allows people to have up to six plants grown indoors. Marijuana use in public spaces still is illegal.
The proposition also allows local governments to license the cultivation, packaging, distribution and sales of recreational marijuana, according to city staffers.
At the same meeting, the council will weigh whether to back up the Merced Parks and Recreation Commission’s recommendation to name the splash pad at Stephen Leonard Park after Marci Stenberg, a former Merced Sun-Star photographer who, friends say, is remembered for having a particular love of children.
Supporters at a commission meeting in February spoke highly of the 66-year-old Stenberg, who died unexpectedly at her Merced home on Dec. 21, 2012.
City Council meetings are streamed live on the Internet; a link to the meeting and past videos is at www.cityofmerced.org. The meeting is also shown live on Comcast’s Government Channel 96.
Thaddeus Miller: 209-385-2453, @thaddeusmiller
This story was originally published April 16, 2017 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Marijuana and Merced splash pad on the docket for Monday meeting."