At tomorrow’s regularly scheduled meeting, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will consider opening the door to medical marijuana dispensaries. An ordinance on the agenda would make dispensaries an allowed use in certain commercial and industrial zones. It’s a move that was shelved by a previous board more than three and a half years ago in the face of federal intimidation.

The zoning changes were originally part of a larger medical marijuana ordinance that included rules for indoor and outdoor cultivation. But in October 2011, just before the board was set to consider the ordinance, an appellate court ruled that a similar ordinance in Long Beach was preempted by federal law. According to the court, local jurisdictions couldn’t allow activities that were considered illegal by the feds.

So when Humboldt supervisors took the matter up just over a month later, they followed the advice of legal counsel and removed all references to dispensaries from the ordinance. In December 2011, the board adopted a two-year moratorium on accepting or processing dispensary applications.

But the Long Beach case has since been taken up by the California Supreme Court, which caused the decision to be de-published. So, as city county staff puts it in its report to the board (pdf here), “the uncertainty surrounding this case has now passed.”

The ordinance on tomorrow’s agenda would prohibit dispensaries less than 500 feet from any residential neighborhood, church, park, playground or anywhere else kids regularly gather, among other criteria. Applicants would be required to meet a checklist of criteria before being issued a conditional use permit, and once open each dispensary would be subject to regular inspections and performance reviews.

Staff recommends approving the zoning changes, which would take effect within 30 days except in the Coastal Zone, where the changes would have to await certification by the Coastal Commission.

The ordinance would also lay out some ground rules for opening and operating dispensaries. The list is long, but a few rules worth noting:

• Dispensaries wouldn’t be allowed to open before 10 a.m. or stay open later than 7 p.m.
• Patients (qualified 215-card holders only, of course) couldn’t be served more than twice per day.
• You couldn’t run your delivery service out of just anywhere. They’d only be allowed to operate from fully permitted “store-front” facilities in commercial or industrial zones.
• Marijuana research labs and testing facilities would be allowed in all the same places that regular medical labs and testing facilities are allowed, as long as they don’t grow, process or distribute the ganja medicine.
• Dispensary owners would have to screen all potential employees, including criminal background checks.
• They would also need to have a security plan “including but not limited to, lighting, alarms, and automatic law enforcement notification … .”

Tune in tomorrow to see how the board votes.