5.10.020 Procedure for administrative review of license applications.
A. Upon receipt of notice from the Board of an application for the issuance, renewal, transfer of location or transfer to another person of a marijuana license for a license location in the city, the clerk shall as soon as practicable distribute copies of the notice to the city manager, the city council and the city attorney.
B. The city manager shall immediately refer the application for review as follows:
1. To the planning director or their designee to determine if the applicant has complied with the conditional use provision of the Bethel Municipal Code;
2. To the finance director or their designee to determine whether the licensee or license transferee is delinquent in paying to the city any tax, assessment, business license fee, or fee or charge for utility service for the business and/or affiliate (as defined in 3 AAC 304.990) that operates or will operate under the marijuana license;
3. To the police and fire chiefs to determine whether, in their opinion, there have been excessive calls for service, excessive numbers of convictions or arrests for unlawful activity at the license location, police or ambulance reports, reports of unlawful activity at the license location, or police, fire or ambulance dispatches to the license location.
C. The fire chief, police chief, planning director and finance director shall forward written statements to the city manager within fourteen (14) calendar days after the application was referred by the city manager.
D. The city manager shall provide a written report to the city council, with a copy to the applicant, listing any objections to the Board’s issuance of the application. The city manager’s report is due within twenty (20) days after the date of receipt of notice from the city clerk.
E. An applicant who believes the city manager’s report contains factual errors shall file a written protest outlining, with specifics, the sections of the report believed to be factually incorrect. Such protest must be filed to the city manager not later than ten (10) calendar days after issuance of the city manager report.
F. The city manager shall investigate the applicant’s protest and shall issue a written decision no later than ten (10) business days after receipt of the protest.
G. The city clerk shall place the matter of the application upon the city council agenda not less than thirty (30) and not more than forty (40) calendar days after the date of receipt from the Board. [Ord. 16-18 § 2.]