PREVIOUSLY

• DANK NEWS: Arcata City Council To Consider Legalizing Indoor Weed-Smoking Lounges
• Arcata City Council OKs Water Rate Increase, Welcomes Weed Lounges
• INSANELY DANK NEWS: Pacific Paradise’s Weed-Smoking Lounge Approval in the Hands of the Planning Commission Next Week

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It’ll be a while before curious tourists, college students and Arcatans-at-large can get stoned inside, but the day is coming. Last night, the Arcata Planning Commission unanimously granted the owners of Pacific Paradise a permit amendment that will allow them to found Arcata’s first weed-smoking lounge, adjacent to their dispensary on H Street.

The city council legalized the lounges back in April; this is the first one approved under the new code. There’s a long list of conditions the business has to abide by, lest the city yanks its permit to sell cannabis: It has to allow the city to send in inspectors whenever it wishes, has to follow all relevant local and city laws, and has to ensure none of the smell and smoke that ensues from toking up leaves the building. (Senior Planner Delo Freitas clarified that they’re not currently planning to regularly inspect the facility. Any enforcement will be triggered by complaints filed with the city.)

Michael Bettencourt, one of the owners of Pacific Paradise, said he’s contracted with a company that will install a ventilation system that exceeds the state’s minimum standards for indoor smoking lounges. They’re also going to give their staff free N95 masks upon request. Bettencourt claimed his wife is a state-certified personal protective equipment fitter and will train the staff to use them correctly.

The mural on the outside of Pacific Paradise will also be extended to cover the new section of the building, and a local muralist will paint a map of the town on the side facing 11th Street. Bettencourt estimated there would usually be between three to six customers using the lounge, rising to upwards of 20 during a large downtown event. If they host an event in the space — yoga, for instance — there might be close to 40.

Customers would only be allowed to enter and exit the building through the dispensary next door, though there’s an emergency exit that leads directly to the sidewalk.

City Hall is using the business as a test subject, staff said, anticipating more applications in the future. Freitas said the city is fielding another party interested in founding a standalone smoke lounge. They’ll monitor how this project goes and change course for the next applicant as they see fit. “Being the guinea pig is not easy,” Bettencourt said, “But I’m glad we’re charting the course for others.”

It could take more than a year until the business opens, Bettencourt said. They still need the go-ahead from the state, and the ventilation system still needs to be installed. The level of support they’re getting is “phenomenal,” he said, both from their regular customers and from out-of-town visitors, who are happy to hear they’ll have a space soon they can get high in and not worry about getting in trouble. It’ll be a “boon” to the community, he said. Nick Matthews, a former owner of Pacific Paradise who turned it from a head shop into a dispensary in 2019, agreed. It’ll be beneficial for everyone to give tourists a place where they can smoke and not feel “dirty” or “inappropriate.”

Freitas said the expansion would be a good fit for the surrounding neighborhood, and it would support an existing business and “increase the vibrancy” of downtown Arcata.

“I always think this is such a vibrant storefront, and it feels so lively and clean, and I appreciate all the work you’ve done to keep that storefront in good condition,” commissioner Abbie Strickland told Bettencourt. “Any day Arcata has a vacant storefront being filled is a really good day for Arcata. So, thank you for being the guinea pigs and for going through this maybe, potentially arduous process.”