City of Lompoc reviewing a dozen cannabis business applications

Applications for cannabis sales and manufacturing businesses are flooding into the City of Lompoc.There’s no cap on the number of such businesses, so the city has a lot of applications to work through. More than a dozen cannabis applications for potential stores, smoking lounges, and distribution and manufacturing sites are currently working their way through the city system.While the city hopes for a job and revenue boom, not everyone is happy about the number of applications.  "From what I gather, there are several large permits that are based on manufacturing and distribution," said Jim Mosby, Lompoc City Council. Three locations have already been approved for cannabis businesses: 1101 East Ocean Avenue, Suite A 423 West Ocean Avenue 1017 E. Ocean Avenue, Unit AThere are 12 other proposed sites in the process of being approved by city staff and police: 805 W. Laurel Avenue 809 W. Laurel Avenue 317 N. Second Street 721 W. Central Avenue, Unit D 113 North A Street 119 North A Street 1024 North H Street 715 East Ocean Avenue 124 South J Street 321 North Second Street 1201 West Chestnut Avenue (2 separate licenses)"Some of these applicants are filing $18,000-$20,000 just to file the permit," Mosby said. One cannabis storefront and smoking lounge is approved in the old RE/MAX building by Central Coast Medical Group on East Ocean Avenue. The new owners of ‘Aluh-Teh’ (Medicine man) hope to open their doors in as soon as two months.  But all of the permitted licenses still have a long way to go with building permits and construction."I realize that pot is legal but I’m kind of sad that it’s legal in this town," said Bonnie Litzinger, Lompoc resident. "I think we need to have more control over it or we will have one pot shot over another and I think it’s going to bring crime and wrong element to town." "As long as everything is safe and secured, I don’t have a problem with it," said Barbara Banuelos, Lompoc resident. Lompoc police say at this time, they do not have plans to increase routine patrols in the areas where permits have been approved nor hire more officers because of the deficit in the city budget.