The City Council narrowly voted to uphold the appeal of an emergency demolition permit for the Foundry and office buildings on East H Street.
(File photo)
The Foundry and Office buildings, the subject of a debate that has lasted more than a year, will remain standing. The Benicia City Council granted an appeal for an emergency demolition of the historic structures at 678 East H St. during Tuesday’s meeting.
The two buildings, constructed in the 1850s and once the home of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, have been part of a battle over whether or not they should remain standing or should be demolished, due to the dilapidated state of the property. At the Jan. 16 meeting, the council heard testimony and considered various options. After the public hearing was finished, the council directed staff to prepare and return with a resolution for approval.
Prior to the council’s vote, city staff gave council members two options to resolve the issue. Councilmembers could either vote to approve the appeal or deny it. Staff recommended taking action on either option. The Council would vote 3-2 to approve the appeal, with opposing votes coming from Vice Mayor Steve Young and Councilmember Mark Hughes who expressed concerns about public safety and potential litigation in the event of an accident at the site.
In other business, cannabis was on the council agenda again, specifically a request to the Department of Justice to conduct backgrounding of commercial cannabis applicants, adding 1.75 full-time city employees and providing direction on scoring and evaluation criteria for commercial cannabis use.
At the Feb. 6 council meeting, members approved the introduction of cannabis business-related ordinances. It was also decided at the meeting a scoring criteria was necessary to evaluate commercial cannabis use applications. Additionally, the council must authorize staff to submit a request to the Department of Justice to allow for backgrounding of cannabis-related applicants and approving the hiring of 1.75 city staff to process those applicants.
The council approved requesting the Department of Justice for the background checks with a unanimous vote. However, 3-2 was the vote sanctioning the hiring of the 1.75 city employees, and city staff were directed by the council to clarify the language and rescore the evaluation criteria for commercial cannabis use.
The council will next meet Tuesday, March 6.
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Highlight of the evening was local businessman Tom Hamilton expressing his desire to be part of our new cannabis industry. He owns one of the expiring seats this year if he wants it, a genuine benefactor, believer and witness to the restorative powers of cannabis. Now we have two long-time
First Street businesses that want to be part of retail ops, but due to the DMUMP cannot do so.
Cannabusiness is emerging as a powerful political a$$embly and local Consumer/Acceptor candidates will surely be noticed by them. Best part is that nobody can claim you were bought because the decision has already been made. Now the industry is looking for reliable advocates that want a career in politics. It’s that simple.
We saw the vanguard of large-scale production cannabusiness in Benicia speak on Tuesday. As is said often, these aren’t tie-dyed hippies any more. These were suit and tie professionals with extensive credentials in the business and plenty of investor capital. They spoke of cultivars and isolates in sophisticated high-demand concentrate production technologies. I was surprised to hear we already have an extraction equipment fabricator at BIP experiencing sustained growth. These businesses will be joining the Chamber of Commerce as they have in other cities. Should make for some great mixers hosted by them! We should institute a gender equity provision in selection criteria.
**WARNING** The following link provides information about one of the many cannabis products designed for pleasures of the flesh. Reading it may induce impure thoughts in some, or send others racing to the nearest retailer that stocks it.
https://tinyurl.com/y93fsplz