Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the hearing, and approve the hearing officer’s recommendation to deny the business license MJ21701137 submitted by Long Beach Cannabis Club for a medical marijuana business located at 5752 East 2nd Street, but reject the hearing officer’s finding that Naples Canals are not a “public park” as defined under Chapter 5.90 of the Long Beach Municipal Code.  (District 3)
Motion case. Thank you. Listen, hearing number two, please. Report from financial management, parks, recreation and Marine recommendation to receive supporting. Documentation into the record to conclude the hearing and approve the hearing officer's recommendation to deny the business license submitted by the. Long Beach Cannabis Club for a medical marijuana business located at 5752 East Second Street, but reject the hearing officer's findings that Naples canals are not a public park. As defined under Chapter 5.90 of the. Long Beach Municipal Code District three. Thank you. Is an oath required here? Yes. Okay. Let's go ahead and conduct the oath. So parents, anybody who's giving testimony, please stand. Do you and each of you solemnly state, state that the testimony you may give in the course now pending before this body shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Thank you. So, Mr. Modica, go ahead and take us away. Thank you. Mr. Vice Mayor, the staff report on this will be given by Brett Jacobs, our business service officer in the Financial Management Department and supported by the city attorney's office. Good evening, honorable vice mayor and members of the city council. Tonight you have before you a recommendation to uphold the hearing officer's determination to deny the business license application and a21701137 submitted by Long Beach Cannabis Club for a medical marijuana business located at 5752 E Second Street in Council District three. In addition to the calculator, you have been provided the hearing officers recommendation and findings, the appeal hearing packet, the appellants brief in support of their argument and the city's brief in support of its argument to provide some background on this item on February 22nd, 2017. The Long Beach Cannabis Club submitted an application to operate a medical marijuana dispensary at 5752 East Second Street on May 31st, 2017. The Department of Financial Management denied the business license application due to the proposed business location being within 1000 feet of a public beach and being located within 600 feet of a public park, which is in violation of one beach baseball code. Section 5.90.030. On June eight, 2017, Luggage Cannabis Club filed an appeal of the business license application denial. And on July 18, 2017, the City Council referred to appeal to a hearing officer on August 14, 2017. The appeal hearing was held and the presiding hearing officer assigned by the city clerk's office was Larry Minsky on August 23, 2017. The hearing officer recommended that the denial of the business license application submitted by Long Beach Cannabis Club be upheld due to the proposed business location being within 1000 feet of a public beach Mother's Beach, which is in violation of Long Beach Coastal Code Section 5.90.030. In addition to the hearing officer, in addition, the hearing officer concluded that the city did not meet the burden of proof to show that the proposed business location was also within 600 feet of a public park with respect to Naples canals. If the city council affirms the hearing officer's finding that Naples canals is not a public park within the meaning of Long Beach, most of the code section 5.90.02 of the Naples canals must be removed from the medical marijuana business buffer map. The Long Beach Medical Code Section 5.90.02 defines a park as publicly owned, natural or open areas set aside for active public use for recreational, cultural or community service activities. The city maintains it enables canals clearly meet the definition of a park under the Long Beach Morse Code, Section 5.90.02. Because the Naples Canals is a public open water area with a primary purpose of recreational use with activities such as kayaking, boating, swimming and paddleboarding. As such, staff recommends council adopt the hearing officers determination to deny the business license application but reject the hearing officer's determination that Naples Canals is not a public park. That concludes my report. And staff are are available to answer any questions council may have. Thank you. And so at this point, we'll go to public comment. Is there any member of the public would like to speak on hearing number two, please come forward. Larry Goodhew, a cleric as he addressed a stadium before. The landlord has proven himself and the owner of the property a highly irresponsible individual. He is essentially allowed his property, which he owns, in which he's currently trying to establish the objectionable business in, as well as the one next door to become a sanctuary for the two individuals at the epicenter of an insidious criminal syndicate period with which he could have easily done, i.e. simply by fencing off in the closed hours with an attractive fence, as other residents have done, as other business owners have done. But he has refused to do that. He essentially gives the middle finger to the residents again, his location. It was a primary location for that episode, for that criminal activity or the the nest for those two individuals until until he started applying for this. But he still ingratitude the odious owner of the building next door that is essentially run by the turd that floated into the shore, across the shore, across the pond about a few years ago. And he, together with his equally odious number two guy, which is certainly an appropriate description, championed those two individuals by play, by publishing articles favoring those two individuals. Those two individuals are ones that one of them threatened to kill. Threatened to kill a shop owner, catty corner from that location the other bit and put someone in the stomach. Those who have been banned from the library for a similar type of conduct and every time the female, the elderly, senior citizen librarian staff would walk out on the street for lunch break, they would spit. Which period the individual, individual owner and the manager of that facility has proved himself highly irresponsible. Yet this guy supports supports him and his equally odious individual, his number two guy, who when he was out on a medical leave and it looked as if it was he was not going to make it to pearly gate, not only to where the pearly gates immediately shut the day. The guy down below said even he had his standards and closed him off. You can't have landlord, you can't have people giving sanctuary to criminal activity. And it speaks ill of the very character of the individual who would want to open up something which is steps away from essentially nothing more than child trafficking, sex trafficking and child. Thank you. Sex trafficking. Thank you for your testimony. Saying no further public comment will close public comment. I want to just ask for the record, is the appellant at all in the audience? Okay. I don't see the appellant here. No one's responding. Just need to do that for the record. So public comment is closed, so we'll take it back behind the real council in place to overcome it. I want to. Thank staff for their efforts on this. This is an example of what we're to see from now on in regards to these establishments and some of the buffers that in my opinion, this one is a no brainer. But I thank staff for their excellent work and of course of the analysis of the Naples canals. I think I think it's hilarious that the hearing officer would have concluded otherwise, given what a huge source of recreational activity that particular canal provides for the entire city and never mind Christmas. So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you. Members, please cast your vote.