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Lompoc City Council votes in favor of cannabis testing, letters of authorization for cannabis license applicants

Posted at 8:38 PM, Nov 26, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-27 19:02:48-05

UPDATE (4:00 p.m. 11-27-18) – A Lompoc city spokesperson says a total of 26 cannabis business license applications have been submitted to the city, and so far six have been approved.

The City Council voted Monday night to allow the City Manager to send approval letters to all of the businesses that submitted applications. The letters will notify businesses that they will be approved if requirements are met.

Businesses have until December 1 to file for a license with the state, but they’re not able to do that until they receive local approval.

The city says it takes about four months to process an application, and that it is unlikely the other licenses would be processed by December 1. “We need to be thorough in our process,” said Samantha Scroggin, the Community Relations Manager and Public Information Officer for the City of Lompoc.


The Lompoc City Council voted unanimously Monday night in favor of permitting commercial cannabis testing in industrial districts.

The council also voted to allow the city manager to provide letters of authorization to commercial cannabis use license applicants who had submitted applications as of Monday.

It comes after cannabis businesses in the city complained that the process of getting business license applications was too slow. Lompoc city officials have said it was not an intentional delay.

Lompoc residents voted in early 2018 to allow cannabis businesses to operate in town, but as of last week, the city still had no licensed dispensaries or cultivation centers.

Nearly two dozen cannabis businesses have submitted business license applications. Four of the 22 applications submitted since March had been approved as of November 15, and the others were still being processed.

City leaders say the same small staff that processes all business license applications is also in charge of marijuana business license applications, which can take about four months to review and complete.

Businesses have until December 1 to file for a license with the state, but they’re not able to do that until they receive local approval.

Previous coverage:
Marijuana license processing delay not intentional, Lompoc officials say