San Mateo Municipal Code Ch. 7.45 Prohibition of the Cultivation, Processing, or Sale of Marijuana

This chapter is enacted to address the health and safety concerns regarding the cultivation, processing and sale of marijuana and marijuana products within the community and the outdoor cultivation of marijuana at private residences, including, but not limited to, compatibility of these uses with sensitive neighboring uses and potential security concerns with the open and obvious cultivation and sale of marijuana, resulting from the approval of Proposition 64 entitled "The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act" by California voters on November 8, 2016, which legalized the possession and use of marijuana by persons 21 years of age and older, and made lawful, subject to State licensing, the cultivation, testing, and sale of nonmedical marijuana.

Notwithstanding any provision of the San Mateo Municipal Code to the contrary, this section prohibits:

(a) The use of any property within the City for the cultivation, storage, manufacturing, processing, or sale of nonmedical marijuana for adults 21 years of age and over;

(b) The possession, planting, cultivation, harvesting, drying, or processing of marijuana outdoors upon the grounds of a private residence; and

(c) The issuance of any permit, license, or certificate for the operation of any such uses.

Nothing in this chapter shall create criminal liability for any individual who is processing, planting, possessing, cultivating, harvesting, or drying marijuana or marijuana products for personal use as defined in the Proposition 64, so long as such activities occur indoors.

The City Council of the City of San Mateo hereby declares that should any section, paragraph, sentence, phrase, term or word of this chapter, hereby adopted, be declared for any reason to be invalid, it is the intent of the City Council that it would have adopted all other portions of this chapter irrespective of any such portion declared invalid.