City wants more cannabis retailers, some residents say no

Calexico City Council voted unanimously during the Wednesday regular meeting to increase local cannabis licenses from 5 to 7.

The council said they received more license applications than they had expected.

“There are three applications that were submitted on the same day for the fifth and final retail license,” Miguel Figueroa, Assistant City Manager, said.

They said the excess of submissions made on a same day during the acceptance process created a dilemma for the council.
“Tt was decided that the fair thing to do was to expand to seven retail licenses,” Figueroa said.

Council Member Bill Hodge wanted the business’ names put on the city website to follow transparency guidelines.

Figueroa mentioned that the Cannabis industry is going through changes statewide.

“There is expected that the Cannabis bureau up in Sacramento is going to issue additional language to existing laws in the month of July,” Figueroa said.

Resident Isabel De La Mora doesn’t approve of cannabis manufactured or sold locally.

“It’s another step towards people having an opportunity to take drugs. If they do it illegally, what will happen when it’s legal?” De La Mora said.

Figueroa said the industry could bring a strong economic impact to the area.

“Cultivation, manufacture and retail, which are the three activities that we can tax, the tax revenue that we can expect if three companies are doing those three activities ranges anywhere from $700,000 to 1.5 million dollars,” Figueroa said.

The council wanted to reassure the community that the local cannabis industry will be limited and restricted to a small area in the north end of town.