Del Rey Oaks City Council votes 4-1 to send medical pot dispensary proposal to Planning Commission.

By a margin of 4-1, the Del Rey Oaks City Council voted tonight to send a proposal for a medical marijuana dispensary to the city’s Planning Commission.

The vote marked the first significant step by a local city to bring a dispensary to the county, which has none. 

Tonight’s City Council meeting was preceded by an hour-long informal study session on the subject of medical marijuana that filled every seat of the modest council chambers.

Several in attendance were from outside the city, and spoke in favor of having a dispensary in Monterey County so that local medical marijuana users need not drive miles out of the county to buy a product legal in the state. 

Robert Jacob, mayor of Sebastopol and executive director of two dispensaries, was invited to comment on the issue by phone at the session.

He said he’s seen a significant reduction in crime around dispensaries, which he attributes to the heightened security they bring.

He also added that 3-4pm tended to be the busiest hour.

“What we found was: these were young men who were construction workers,” Jacob said.

He said they came to get medical pot for their pain rather than pharmaceutical painkillers.

Vice Mayor Kristin Clark was one of the first to speak, and succinctly voiced her absence of enthusiasm.

“I am not interested at all in having a dispensary in Del Rey Oaks,” she said. “We are a bedroom community.”

DRO Police Chief Ron Langford focused on the effect a dispensary might have on local residents.

“It will have no effect on the city,” he said, “and the applicants have embraced every suggestion I’ve made, and even proposed a few I hadn’t thought of.”

Among those Langford hadn’t thought of: Put a police substation on the floor above the proposed dispensary at 800 Portola Dr., which the applicant will provide rent-free.

Gail Weir of the Planning Commission took to the podium to say she has a 94-year-old friend in Carmel who needs medical marijuana but has to drive to Santa Cruz County to get it.

“It can be a very difficult drive for someone of that age,” Weir said.

A surprise speaker was Monterey City Councilwoman Nancy Selfridge, who said that—while she previously voted no to a dispensary proposal in Monterey on Lighthouse Avenue—she has since become more open to the idea, as long as it’s well-regulated.

She also added the Monterey City Council will revisit the topic soon.

Every member of the DRO City Council spoke at the end of the session, and other than Clark, all appeared in support of the proposal, so the 4-1 vote less than an hour later came as little surprise.

“The tide is coming,” Mayor Jerry Edelen said. “I’d like to see Del Rey Oaks take a leadership position on this.”

If the DRO’s Planning Commission green lights the dispensary, it will head back to council for final approval on an undisclosed time line.

Insiders expect word before November elections.