an explanation of the proposed amendments to the Cannabis Business Permitting Ordinance

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL Quinton Y. Zondervan City Councillor September 9, 2021 To the members of the City Council: As discussed at the September 9, 2021 Ordinance Committee hearing, on tonight’s agenda you will find amendments to the Cannabis Business Permitting Ordinance as well as an emergency declaration allowing us to adopt them at the September 13, 2021 regular meeting. The emergency declaration is a necessary step to extend the existing preference period for Economic Empowerment applicants before the current expiration date of September 23, 2021. This language was drafted based on consensus reached in the Ordinance Committee and with assistance from the Law Department. Here is a quick summary of the proposed amendments: 1. Updates the Cannabis Business Permitting Ordinance to encompass delivery and courier businesses. You will recall that council passed zoning for delivery/courier operations last spring, but those businesses will not be able to obtain a Cannabis Business Permit until this Ordinance is also updated to include them. 2. Adds an additional preference period for delivery/courier businesses. The state has already implemented a 3-year preference period for those businesses and these amendments would add an additional year on top of that in Cambridge. 3. Extends Cambridge's existing local preference period for Economic Empowerment applicants opening retail stores. The current proposal extends the period by one additional year as was the sense of the Ordinance Committee at the September 9, 2021 hearing. 4. Creates a new one year preference period for all other group A applicants, including Social Equity (SE) applicants for the first time. As you know, the existing preference period only applies to Economic Empowerment (EE) applicants. We have heard important feedback that it is time to include SE applicants as part of this extension, including at the Ordinance Committee hearing, and many EE applicants currently in the pipeline who benefitted from the original preference period are supportive of allowing SE applicants to enter the market. Sincerely, Quinton Y. Zondervan Cambridge City Councillor CITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02139 Email: qzondervan@cambridgema.gov