The Visalia City Council approved a cannabis sales ordinance at its March 3 meeting, but no cannabis businesses will be permitted in the city until further notice.
Last November, 70.7% of Visalia voters approved Measure O, the city's cannabis tax measure. The ballot measure did not permit cannabis sales in the city, however, so the city council directed city staff to prepare a report with potential next steps that could possibly change that.
Assistant City Attorney Jim Koontz explained that drafting ordinance option one did not automatically mean that cannabis could legally be sold in the city.
"You could pass the cannabis business ordinance, the regulatory framework, and have all the rules in place, but you can set the number of businesses allowed at that time upon adoption to zero," he said. "Effectively, you've created the structure, you've created the rules, but you're not going to start allowing such businesses to come into Visalia yet. You would have to have a follow-up action at a later time.
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