The Control, Regulate, and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) presents a myriad of land use and environmental issues that will affect cultivators, distributors and other private entities and public agencies. Those issues touch on existing environmental and land use laws as well as new regulations that will be developed at the local and state levels. With regard to land use, AUMA allows local agencies to develop planning and zoning regulations. These regulations will address whether to allow such businesses, where such businesses may locate, and conditions for operating such businesses. The development of these regulations and approval of local permits, and State licensing procedures, are all subject to CEQA.
Further, there is a web of environmental regulations, both existing and soon to be developed, that must be considered and complied with by cultivators, distributors and other private entities and public agencies. Those regulations include water use and water rights, wastewater and wetlands permitting, species protection, and pesticide use, under federal, state, and local laws, including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and California Fish and Game and Water Codes.
This webinar focuses on what municipalities can and cannot do through their land use powers to regulate nonmedical marijuana businesses, and strategies that private businesses and local governments can use in the coming months while the State crafts new regulations. The webinar also addresses the complex interplay of federal, state, and local environmental regulations that will affect this new industry.