Council votes 5-0 to allow cannabis sales

In a unanimous vote of the five members of The Canyon Lake City Council Monday, the sale of cannabis/marijuana products within the city limits was approved. The council voted and approved the introduction of the first reading and will formally vote on the ordinance change at its October meeting.

Driving the reversal of its previous ordinance of not allowing cannabis dispensaries in the city was the financial windfall such a business within the city limits would provide the city.

Still to be decided is whether more than one dispensary will be approved to open. It appeared toward the conclusion of the meeting that most council members were leaning toward opening just one, preferably in the Canyon Lake Town Center. These decisions are likely to be made when the ordinance receives final approval at the October meeting.

As to who will be approved to open the first dispensary in the city, City Attorney Steven Graham explained that it is based on a scoring system. Applicants will first be filtered based on who is qualified to apply by meeting the minimum threshold.

Of those who qualify, each applicant will be objectively evaluated, Steven said, and given scores based on who has the highest and best community benefits. The highest scoring applicant, he said, would be issued the first dispensary license. If more than one dispensary is approved by the city next month, the second-highest scoring applicant will be awarded the second license.

The lengthy meeting lasted three hours and forty minutes and included reports by law enforcement, the city attorney, a representative from HDL (consulting that helped with the ordinance), and a couple other experts who gave statistics regarding what it would mean for Canyon Lake financially as well as concerns for having a dispensary within a smaller city.

There were over 50 people in attendance.

Once all the reports concluded, residents were asked to state their opinions either for or against allowing a dispensary to open in Canyon Lake.