The Benicia City Council will be meeting tonight, and once again cannabis is on the agenda.
The council will discuss reviewing the scoring and evaluation criteria for commercial cannabis uses from the four ordinances approved at the Feb. 20 meeting which allows cannabis uses in Benicia. Those four ordinances allowed for personal cultivation of cannabis for private or commercial use, requiring all commercial cannabis uses in Benicia to obtain two approvals of a Public Safety License and use permit before operating, allowing a maximum of two retail locations in Benicia, subject to a competitive process; and allowing a maximum of one microbusiness location in Benicia.
The proposed process of scoring and evaluation criteria for commercial cannabis use begins with the city manager selecting five people who will serve on a committee that will review each application. Committee members will sum their scores in each category to generate a total score for each applicant. A minimum score of 80 percent will be required for applicants to proceed with the applicants with the highest scores will progress.
City staff is recommending the council approve the scoring and evaluation criteria.
In other business, the council will hold a public hearing to consider adoption of a 45-day interim urgency ordinance enacting a moratorium on work/live quarters and adopting objective planning standards for mixed-use and residential developments that are subject to a streamlined ministerial process under section 65913 of the California government code, after determining it is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act.
It is recommended by staff that the council adopt the interim urgency ordinance to enact a moratorium on Work/Live Quarters and establish objective standards for mixed-use and residential developments that are subject to a ministerial the process under Section 65913 of the California Government Code, after determining it is exempt from CEQA.
There are no budgetary impacts from this agenda item if approved. A four/fifths vote is required to pass the item.
The council will meet at 7 p.m. tonight in the Council Chambers at City Hall, located at 250 East L St. A live stream of the council meeting can also be found online at ci.benicia.ca.us/agendas.
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The City Manager should select five consumer/acceptors* to set the tone for a welcoming experience for potential cannabusiness applicants. Except for a couple of individuals, this industry got the cold shoulder from our Economic Development Board and Planning Commission.
*Kerridge, Cullen, Hamilton, Lemone, and Snider for example.
You are correct on the names. If the Planning Commission chair runs for City Council she will be defeated. As will Snider.Again cannabis is on the losing side.
Great idea WTB, love it!
**WARNING** The following commentary may cause some incredulati to reel in disbelief.
Today’s exercise in cannabis economics further demonstrates the HIGH value of cannabis oil refining operations. We will examine the potential of a closed-loop extraction technology capable of 50kg/day throughput of dried flower. This can be either super-critical co2 or butane as solvent.
This entire operation would fit in the area of a double car garage. I am using extremely conservative yields of concentrates to illustrate this example and rounding down.
The target isolate has a value of $100/ml at the point of sale before taxes. 5ml of it can be extracted from 28 grams of flower (1 ounce).
The system throughput is 50000g/day, divided by 28g, times 5 = 8900ml/day times $100 = $890,000 worth of product at the point of sale, about 2 1/3 gallons per day output. If the target isolate was $30/ml, the daily POS value would be $267,000. As mentioned repeatedly here, concentrates refining is where the BIG money is in cannabusiness. Some readers may be familiar with Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewing Company. They have partnered with a cannabis concentrates producer to include essential oils from hops to flavor two new brands of vape carts at $40.
The above example is from just one processing unit. Some producers have multiple and higher throughput systems making the liquid gold we spoke of early on. All we have to do is keep feeding these moneymakers flowers; that’s where the open space hillsides come in. Crude oil refining has run its course here. Nobody has to worry any more about them getting teed off and leaving town over increased monitoring. It’s that simple.
Arithmetic pop quiz: if Valero refines about 150,000 barrels of oil per day, or about 6 million gallons, and if the POS value is $3, how many acres of marijauna must be grown to cover that value, assuming 28 g of flower for 5 ml?
How many gallons of product is that (extra credit).
The answer to the Valero question is about 14.1 million dollars (per day).
As an aside, the Valero facility is roughly 700 acres. So, if the Valero facility were converted to growing cannabis, how much could be harvested in dollar amount per year? Growers generally plant 2,600 to 5,800 plants per acre. One plant can yield 6 to 8 ounces. Figure an ounce can average about $280.00
More than the anticipated $5 billion annual sales expected for the entire state!!! Wow. On only 700 acres! Gonna drive all the other growers out of business??? Something doesn’t add up.
Well that was pretty much my point. I keep seeing $5 billion as the total annual sales anticipated, and it would seem that about 1000 acres would be more than enough for that given the claimed value above. The entire state’s ag output is less than $50 billion, on 43 million acres!
Of course, nobody is going to plant 700 acres of marijuana plants in any one place.
“We now know there are other opportunities than to get high off (cannabis)…”
Here’s Pittsburg easing in with regulated “M” license activity.
https://tinyurl.com/y7s2jnkk
What is this world coming to?! One of the greatest quarterbacks of all time pushing dope? Unfortunately this is how some of our citizens may view the following, another endorsement of the highest order supportive of regulated cannabis and public education about it.
https://tinyurl.com/y9p35aob
Even the NFL Commissioner is evolving. What kind of message does this send to youth athletes?!
https://tinyurl.com/y7ywr7cy
Go Joe Motana!! Any chance that this may have played a part in the glory days of the Niners?
Well Thomas there is place in town for rent. 5,000 sq. feet for $10,000 a month. Maybe Joe M , Johnny, Stan and all the others could get together and rent it. Now you would have ,your own place to blow all that air. None of you blow hard folks will. All talk no action. Who knows maybe you already have put in a bid for the place.
Well Bob, that is all extremely profound and well thought out. Congratulations. to you.
I do believe Joe M’s scoring criteria is way above yours.
Scoring criteria? You don’t say.
More info. on the legends of the NFL:
http://bayareane.ws/2ucgIVo
But it still comes back to Benicia. It will not happen. The growing that is. Even if Valero leaves town. Ten or more years to get that land cleaned up. The best thing for Benicia is the BIP. Manufacturing , testing and distribution. That’s it . Retail sales will be like a small dinner. The local pot heads are out of their skulls on this cannabis issue.