Tax Revenues Retail Sales Buzz: Arizona Adult-Use Cannabis Sales

Here's a report from Monday, March 15 2021

NEWS BRIEF

(Please Note: There is a delay in Arizona’s recreational sales reporting because marijuana taxes are collected a month after transactions occur)

Arizona adult-use cannabis sales hit $2.9 million during initial 10 days

Published March 15, 2021

Marijuana Business Daily

"Adult-use cannabis sales in Arizona reached $2.9 million in the first 10 days that sales were permitted, according to figures released by the state.

Recreational sales in Arizona began Jan. 22 after 73 of 130 licenses were approved by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Medical cannabis dispensary operators were granted first crack at the new adult-use licenses.

26 additional  "social equity" licenses are still in the pipeline

The Arizona recreational market launched less than three months after voters approved adult-use sales during last November’s general election.

 

The state collected $226,355 in tax revenue on the sales.

Marijuana Business Daily projects that Arizona’s recreational market will reach $375 million-$400 million in its first full year of sales and more than $700 million yearly by 2024.

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06 December 2020

Mesa trying to curb marijuana sites in the city        

By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer

East Valley Tribune | 2020-12-06

Mesa took the first step toward restricting recreational marijuana sales only a day after Gov. Doug Ducey certified the general election results, which included the overwhelming victory for Proposition 207.

Assistant City Manager John Pombier said Mesa was joining East Valley cities in immediately adopting the series of restrictions, which include limiting recreational marijuana sales to “dual licensed’’ medical marijuana dispensaries...

Mesa Mayor John Giles said he is concerned that it is difficult to know whether Mesa, which already has 13 medical marijuana dispensaries, would get more medical or recreational licenses when the state Department of Health Services addresses the issue next year.

He said he does not want Mesa to “turn into a magnet for these types of businesses,’’ if they are blocked by neighboring East Valley cities.

“Mesa currently is not a marijuana desert. We have 13 medical marijuana dispensaries. That is more than the rest of the East Valley combined,’’ Giles said.

Mesa and other cities have no control over the award of recreational licenses to medical marijuana dispensaries, a procedure provided by the new law . . .

 

08 December 2020

Mesa approves recreational marijuana restrictions             

Jason Sillman  Senior Content Producer

Mesa joins Gilbert and Chandler in creating new regulations due to proposition 207 passing last month,

allowing the sale and use of recreational marijuana in Arizona

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ECONOMIC INCLUSION > Taking Root In The Community

Update > In LISC’s four decades of work, we have come to understand that in order to promote inclusive growth in communities, we must identify and invest in business districts where inequities relative to the surrounding city or region have stymied those places and kept them from kindling opportunities for their workers and residents.

This kind of investment, when it is anchored in and led by a community’s own expertise and assets, can create meaningful change for both consumers and employees in commercial and industrial districts that have long been overlooked and under-resourced. Change that in turn has repercussions for the wellbeing of local people and a region’s workforce and economy as a whole.  

“Community-Rooted Economic Inclusion: A Strategic Action Playbook,” a new joint publication by LISC and Brookings, provides concrete guidance for practitioners, residents and city and regional leaders to carry out a community-rooted economic inclusion work that helps build wealth and opportunity in such places, while driving city and regional economic growth and development that centers equity at its core.

The playbook offers lessons from three LISC markets—Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia—cities where we piloted the framework between fall 2019 and winter 2021. (Our work in Los Angeles was described in another report LISC co-authored with Brookings last fall, No More Status Quo: A Community-Led Action Plan for Addressing Structural Inequity During COVID-19 Recovery.) 

This kind of investment can create meaningful change—change that has repercussions for the wellbeing of local people and a region’s workforce and economy as a whole.

As we and our co-authors demonstrate, community-rooted economic inclusion has three distinctive features that we believe makes it uniquely effective:   

• It invests limited resources at a targeted, strategic scale—bolstered by data, local knowledge, and community buy-in—focusing on districts within cities and towns that have the potential to generate economic benefits for underinvested communities, and at the same time make city and regional economic development more equitable. 
• Its multidisciplinary, systems-level scope brings together the community, economic and workforce development fields to nurture long-overdue investment in people and places, and connect residents and small businesses to their regional economies.  
• Its emphasis on integration mobilizes leaders at the city and regional level, together with communities most affected by structural inequities, to develop shared priorities for place-based investment and economic development. 

The playbook presents a five-step plan that community, city, and regional leaders across the country can use to inform and implement their own community-rooted economic inclusion work. 

The early outcomes, while heavily shaped by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, are nevertheless very encouraging: pilot cities have been able to leverage the partnerships they built during the agenda-setting process to advance COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts.

> For example, partners helped direct LISC small business cash grants locally, and were well positioned to raise money for local grant pools.

> They also provided direct technical support to small businesses, helping them navigate programs like the Paycheck Protection Program, and they made investments in Business Development Organizations (BDOs) that provided culturally competent services to entrepreneurs in the community.  

Building on lessons learned from the pilot, LISC is scaling this work in more communities to drive inclusive recovery and growth. The work in our playbook takes the long view, and demands a commitment to patient collaboration and strategic investment to create authentic, lasting strength for people and their communities. We are excited to be part of this, and to see community-rooted economic inclusion blossom and flourish. Now, in the wake of Covid, and well beyond. 

This playbook provides local leaders with an actionable set of tools to create more just landscapes of neighborhood opportunity through community-rooted economic inclusion—a new, multidisciplinary and systems-level approach to building community wealth within underinvested places, while driving city and regional economic growth and development that centers equity at its core.

READ THE PLAYBOOK

About the Authors

---

Bill Taft, Senior Vice President of Economic Development
Bill leads the expansion of LISC’s inclusive economic development efforts in its 33+ local programs by investing in people, places, and businesses. Bill has been with LISC since 2005, initially serving as LISC Indianapolis’ Executive Director, later as Program Vice President, and now as Senior Vice President for Economic Development. Under Bill’s leadership, LISC Indianapolis invested over $240 million to leverage $1 billion of investment in the core urban neighborhoods of Indianapolis. Prior to that, Bill was President of Southeast Neighborhood Development, Inc. (SEND) for 14 years, overseeing the early phases of revitalizing the Fountain Square area of Indianapolis. Bill holds an undergraduate degree from Cedarville University and a master’s from Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning.

Elizabeth Demetriou, AICP, Director of Economic Development
Elizabeth supports initiatives that contribute to the revival of disinvested business districts and advance inclusive economic development. Prior to joining LISC, Elizabeth was Deputy Director of the NYC Regional Economic Development Council at Empire State Development Corporation (ESD). The council was created to develop a long-term strategic plan for the region and implement a community based, bottom up approach to redefine the way New York invests in jobs and economic growth. She held several positions at the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC), contracted by the City of NY to manage the SW Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone, before joining ESD ending her tenure as Deputy Director. A member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), she has a Master’s of Urban Planning from Hunter College (CUNY) and is on the board of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance

Community-Rooted Economic Inclusion, in Practice

By William Taft and Elizabeth Demetriou

Ocean Collapse, Dating Fiasco, Storm Alert | S0 News Mar.17.2021

REMOTE Mesa City Council Study Session 07:30 Thu 03.18.2021

LINK to online comment card > PUBLIC PARTICIPATION... The City Council believes _____?

https://www.mesaaz.gov/government/city-council-meetings/applicant-online-comment-card

Council Study Session Notice: To decrease COVID-19 exposure, the City Council Chambers is closed, but public viewing and input on the items are available electronically. 

Members of the City Council will appear electronically for this meeting, via a video conferencing platform, and the live meeting will be accessible via broadcast and telephonically. Because of the current public health emergency, the City Council Chambers is closed for Council study sessions. However, the live meeting may be watched on local cable Mesa channel 11, online at Mesa11.com/live, www.youtube.com/user/cityofmesa11/live, or https://www.facebook.com/CityofMesa, or listened to by calling 888-788-0099 or 877-853-5247 (toll free) using meeting ID 5301232921 and following the prompts. 

For any difficulties accessing this meeting, please call 480-644-2099.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 https://mesa.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx 

City Council Study Session City of Mesa Meeting Agenda - Final

Thursday, March 18, 2021 7:30 AM Virtual Platform

 

Reference for readers to use > http://mesa.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx  

Meeting Name:

City Council Study Session

Agenda status:

Final

Meeting date/time:

3/18/2021 7:30 AM

Minutes status:

Draft

Meeting location:

Virtual Platform

Published agenda:

Agenda

 

File #:

21-0160

Type:

Presentation

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

3/18/2021

Title:

Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on proposed text amendments, including, but not limited to, Chapter 31 and 86 of Title 11 of the Mesa Zoning Ordinance relating to Recreational Marijuana establishments.

Attachments:

1. Presentation

 

File #:

21-0161

Type:

Presentation

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

3/18/2021

Title:

Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on proposed text amendments, including, but not limited to, Chapters 4, 5, 6, 8, 32, 58, 64, 86, and 87 of Title 11 of the Mesa Zoning Ordinance relating to Community Residences (i.e., currently known as Group Homes or Group Homes for the Handicapped in the Zoning Ordinance).

Attachments:

1. Presentation

 

File #:

21-0308

Type:

Appointment

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

3/18/2021

Title:

Appointment to the Historic Preservation Board.

Attachments:

1. Appointment Memo

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More

1 Roll Call 

2 Presentations/Action Items: 

21-0160 Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on proposed text amendments, including, but not limited to, Chapter 31 and 86 of Title 11 of the Mesa Zoning Ordinance relating to Recreational Marijuana establishments. 

Item 1-a 

MEETING DETAILS AND ATTACHMENT

File #:

21-0160

Type:

Presentation

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

3/18/2021

Title:

Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on proposed text amendments, including, but not limited to, Chapter 31 and 86 of Title 11 of the Mesa Zoning Ordinance relating to Recreational Marijuana establishments.

Attachments:

1. Presentation

RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA (10 Power Point slides)

Nana Appiah, Planning Director 

Rachel Prelog, Senior Planner 

Current Zoning Regulations 4 

Permitted in Light Industrial (LI) and General Industrial (GI) zoning districts 

Permissible hours of operation - 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 

Regulates medical marijuana dispensaries, cultivation, and infusion facilities 

Dispensaries limited to 2,500 sq ft, no more than 500 sq ft of which can be used for storage 

Current Zoning Regulations 

Separation Requirements: 

• 500 ft from day cares, preschools, public parks (other than LI or GI), HOA owned open space 

• 1,200 ft from churches, libraries, schools, and public parks (LI or GI) 

• 2,400 ft from residential substance abuse facilities, alcohol rehabilitation facilities, correctional transitional housing facilities, and off-site medical marijuana cultivation facilities 

• 5,280 ft from another medical marijuana dispensary 5 6 

Recommendation 

• Dual licensed facilities only 

• Dual Licensee Facility

An entity licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to operate both a Medical Marijuana Dispensary and a Marijuana Establishment

The retail of recreational marijuana and medical marijuana must occur at the same location

Recreational marijuana sales may only occur in conjunction with medical marijuana sales regardless of the licensed held 

• Permissible zoning (LI and GI districts) 

• Permissible hours of operation (8 am - 9 pm) 

• Size limits remain the same: 

• Dispensaries 2,500 sq. ft. 

• Cultivation Facility 25,000 sq. ft 

• Infusion Facility 10,000 sq. ft. 

• Separation requirements remain the same 7 

Next Steps 

Projected P&Z Hearing………………………

April-May Projected CC Hearing…………………………

Before Council Break

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21-0161 Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on proposed text amendments, including, but not limited to, Chapters 4, 5, 6, 8, 32, 58, 64, 86, and 87 of Title 11 of the Mesa Zoning Ordinance relating to Community Residences (i.e., currently known as Group Homes or Group Homes for the Handicapped in the Zoning Ordinance). Item 1-b 

MEETING DETAILS AND ATTACHMENT

File #:

21-0161

Type:

Presentation

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

3/18/2021

Title:

Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on proposed text amendments, including, but not limited to, Chapters 4, 5, 6, 8, 32, 58, 64, 86, and 87 of Title 11 of the Mesa Zoning Ordinance relating to Community Residences (i.e., currently known as Group Homes or Group Homes for the Handicapped in the Zoning Ordinance).

Attachments:

1. Presentation

COMMUNITY RESIDENCE AMENDMENTS (11 Power Point slides)

Nana Appiah, Planning Director 

Charlotte McDermott, Assistant City Attorney 

Rachel Prelog, Senior Planner

OUTLINE 2 

• Purpose & Goals 

• Current Standards 

• Proposed Changes 

• Next Steps 

DEFINITIONS 

REMOVE   REPLACE  ADD

 Group Residential Group Home for the Handicapped Group Housing Handicapped Person  Community Residence (Family & Transitional)  Recovery Community Disability   Family  Single Housekeeping Unit Group Foster Home MODIFY  Boarding House  Social Service Facility

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

21-0308 Appointment to the Historic Preservation Board

Item 1-c

MEETING DETAILS AND ATTACHMENT

File #:

21-0308

Type:

Appointment

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

3/18/2021

Title:

Appointment to the Historic Preservation Board.

Attachments:

1. Appointment Memo

March 18, 2021 

TO: CITY COUNCILMEMBERS 

FROM: MAYOR JOHN GILES 

SUBJECT: Appointments to Boards and Committees 

The following are my recommendations for appointments to City of Mesa Advisory Boards and Committees. Historic Preservation Board – Seven-member board including new appointments. 

Bruce Nelson, District 4. 

Mr. Nelson is an award-winning actor and filmmaker who has produced several historical documentaries and museum exhibits about Mesa. He is a Telly Award winner whose films have been an official selection at the Phoenix Film Festival, Herberger Arts Film Festival, The Arizona Black Film Showcase and others in Arizona and beyond. 

Mr. Nelson has more than ten years’ experience as a professional actor and teacher. His term expires June 30, 2023.

3 Current events summary including meetings and conferences attended

Scheduling of meetings.
more
more

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