a.“Applicant” means a person, or any officer, director, partner, or other duly authorized representative of an entity applying for a cannabis business permit.

b.“Cannabis” means all or parts of the plant Cannabis sativa Linnaeus, Cannabis indica, or Cannabis ruderalis, or any other strain or varietal of the genus Cannabis that may exist or hereafter be discovered or developed that has psychoactive or medicinal properties, whether growing or not, including the seeds of such plants. “Cannabis” also means cannabis as defined by California Business and Professions Code Section 26001(f), California Health and Safety Code Section 11018, and by other state law.

c.“Cannabis business” means the activity of any natural or legal person, business, or collective in the City relating to cannabis, including but not limited to transportation, distribution, manufacture, compounding, conversion, processing, preparation, testing, storage, packaging, event organizing, delivery and sales (including both wholesale and retail sales) of cannabis, cannabis products, or cannabis accessories, whether or not carried on for gain or profit, whether for medical or adult use, and whether or not such business is licensed by the state. A cannabis business does not include any business the only relationship of which to cannabis or cannabis products is the production or sale of cannabis accessories. A cannabis business does not include cannabis cultivation.

d.“Cannabis business permit” means a regulatory license issued by the City to a cannabis business.

e.“Cannabis product” means any product containing cannabis or its derivatives, including, but not limited to, flowers, buds, oils, tinctures, concentrates, extractions, edibles, and products described in California Health and Safety Code Section 11018.1.

f.“City Manager” shall mean the City of Monterey City Manager or their designee.

g.“Competitive application” means the screening and selection process used when the number of retail cannabis business applications exceed the maximum number of retail cannabis business permits authorized.

h.“Delivery” means the transfer for any form of compensation of cannabis or cannabis products to a customer or caregiver at a location that is not a dispensary.

i.“Dispensing” means any activity involving the retail sale of cannabis or cannabis products from a retailer.

j.“Distributor” means a person engaged in procuring cannabis and/or cannabis products for sale to a dispensary, to a business engaged in delivery, or at another point of retail sale. “Distribution” means engaging in that conduct and a “distribution facility” is any real estate, whether or not improved, used in such conduct.

k.“Employee” means persons who are participating, whether directly or indirectly, in the cannabis business regulated under this Article.

l.“Event organizer” means a person or commercial cannabis business who engages in the organizing and operating of a temporary cannabis event.

m.“Limited-access area” means an area in which cannabis is stored or held and is only accessible to a licensee and authorized personnel.

n.“Manager” means any person(s) designated by the commercial cannabis business to act as the representative or agent of the commercial cannabis business in managing day-to-day operations with corresponding liabilities and responsibility and/or the person in apparent charge of the premises where the commercial cannabis business is located. Evidence of management includes, but is not limited to, evidence that the individual has the power to direct, supervise, hire, and dismiss employees, control hours of operations, provide strategic direction, create policy rules, and purchase supplies.

o.“Medicinal cannabis” or “medicinal cannabis product” have the same meaning as in California Business and Professions Code Section 26001(al)(1).

p.“Owner” means any of the following, or a group or combination of any of the following, acting as a unit: a person with an aggregate ownership interest of five (5) percent or more in the cannabis business applying for a permit under this Article, whether a partner, shareholder, principal, member, or the like, unless the interest is solely a security, lien or encumbrance. For purposes of this section, “aggregate” means the total ownership interest held by a single person through any combination of individually held ownership interests in a cannabis business and ownership interests in an entity that has an ownership interest in the same cannabis business. For example, a person who owns two and one-half (2.5) percent of the stock in a cannabis business as an individual shareholder and 100 percent of the stock in an entity that owns two and one-half (2.5) percent of the stock in the same cannabis business has a five (5) percent aggregate ownership interest in the cannabis business.

q.“Permittee” means a person or entity that has received a cannabis business permit and/or a temporary cannabis event permit from the City.

r.“Premises” has the same meaning as in California Business and Professions Code Section 26001(at).

s.“Retailer” has the same meaning as in California Business and Professions Code Section 26001(ax).

t.“State license” means a license issued by the state of California Department of Cannabis Control (“DCC”), or other authorized state agency, under the MAUCRSA and any subsequent related state of California legislation, to engage in cannabis activity.

u.“Temporary cannabis event” means an event of limited duration, and located in a specific area, which allows the on-site sale and/or consumption of cannabis at the event, in compliance with California Business and Professions Code Section 26200(e) and this Article.

v.“Temporary cannabis event permit” means a permit issued by the City to a DCC Type 14 license holder authorizing a temporary cannabis event at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. (Ord. 3674 § 11, 2023)