During the September 4, 2012, City Council worksession, proposed amendments to the current City business license ordinance at Section 13-432 of the City Code (BMCC) were presented to and discussed with the City Council. The amendments provide that no City business license will be issued for any business that engages in any activity that violates local, state or federal law.  Although the amendments address and prohibit new medical marijuana businesses within the City, the amendments will also apply to any other type of business that violates local, state or federal law.  There was also discussion during the September 4, 2012, worksession about a possible amortization or phase-out period of time for compliance by the small number of current medical marijuana businesses with a current business license. An amortization period of two years has been included in the amendments at the end of new subsection (2) in the attached ordinance draft. As briefly discussed with the Council during the worksession presentation, staff believes this amortization is appropriate to include in order to allow any remaining medical marijuana businesses time to comply with the ordinance if the Council approves the amendments. At the conclusion of the September 4, 2012, worksession presentation, Council directed staff to proceed with First Reading and Public Hearing on the proposed amendments which are attached to this staff memo. The First Reading and Public Hearing were held on September 24, 2012. No persons testified at the Public Hearing. No amendments were made to the ordinance, and it was approved 5 to 3.

The Council may:
• approve or disapprove of the amendments, 
• provide additional amendments, or
• postpone a decision on the amendments until a later date. However, as discussed during the September 4, 2012, worksession, the Council’s previous interim zoning ordinance prohibiting any new medical marijuana businesses in all zones expires on November 11, 2012, and a postponement would create a period of time where medical marijuana businesses could obtain a license without the restrictions of either the existing interim ordinance or the proposed business license amendments here.

There is no significant financial impact if the proposed amendments to ordinance Section 13-432 are adopted.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the Second Reading of the proposed ordinance amendments as indicated in the attached ordinance draft.