Carson City Planning Commission votes against recommending more cannabis retail locations
The Carson City Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend no changes regarding the number of retail cannabis locations to the Board of Supervisors.
This is a change from the previous meeting, during which the commission voted to discuss allowing two additional locations instead of one additional location as was on the table for discussion.
During that meeting, 4 of the 7 commissioners stated they would like to discuss bringing the number to four total, which would have been allowed by state law.
When cannabis was legalized in Nevada for recreational use in 2016, the state law allowed for four retail cannabis locations and two medical cannabis locations within Carson City, based on population.
Carson City then enacted an ordinance stating that retail locations must be located at previously established medical cannabis locations, and capped the total number of locations at two.
Michael Cristalli, the co-founder of Qualcan which is the applicant for the proposed ordinance changes, stated that the refusal to allow other companies to operate would result in a cannabis monopoly within the capital city.
Cristalli stated that the two current Carson City retail locations are not Nevada-based companies, unlike Qualcan, and are both owned by a single Illinois-based company.
“This is a Nevada-based company,” said Cristalli. “We are truly invested in the community. If you consider (giving another license to) the other licensee, that’s the same company. You’ll be giving them three licenses and they would control Carson City in terms of their operations — they would have a monopoly. And that’s an out-of-state company. We work well with competition, and it’s good for the consumer.”
Commissioner Nathaniel Killgore stated he changed his vote after hearing public comment, during which nine community members (not including representatives from current cannabis retailers) stated they did not want to see the number of locations expanded.
“I must of course change my opinion on this matter after hearing some of the public comments here," said Killgore. "The right thing to do is not dictate but serve, and pass it on up to the elected officials who can make these choices if they wish to.”
Those who voted no were Chairperson Jay Wiggins and Commissioner Sean Loyd, who stated they did not believe it should be up to the Planning Commission at all to dictate how many cannabis locations should be allowed to operate within Carson City.
While Commissioner Teri Green-Preston stated that she also did not believe the item to be within the commission’s purview, she voted in favor of recommending no changes.
“I feel very strongly that this is not our purview,” said Green-Preston. “It is not up to us how many retail stores (there are) — we don’t even have the facts on where the state taxes go and how they come back into our community. (…) The number of stores belongs to the supervisors."
The Board of Supervisors asked the Planning Commission for their recommendation, but retains the final say on how many retail locations will be allowed to operate within city limits.