Monterey Park, CA Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

Section 6.35.030 flatly bars commercial cannabis activity within the city, and bars the city from issuing any use permit, variance, building permit, or other entitlement, ministerial or discretionary, for it, unless California law otherwise provides. Section 6.35.020 finds unlicensed cannabis facilities to be blight and a public nuisance that must be abated to prevent proliferation, and Chapter 4.30's abatement procedures apply to them under Section 6.35.070. The only carve-out is Chapter 6.36, adopted to comply with the state mandate in Business and Professions Code Section 26320 that cities allow medical cannabis delivery; it authorizes a delivery-only medical cannabis retailer, a non-storefront operation, but only at a location where a conditional use permit issued under Title 21 already authorizes that use, per Section 6.36.060(d).

Only one CUP application per parcel may be pending at a time, and a denied application cannot be resubmitted on the same parcel for a year. The delivery-only permit itself, separate from the CUP, must be activated within 30 days of city approval, expires after 12 months, and is nontransferable under Section 6.36.090. Chapter 6.36 also carries a sunset clause: it automatically repeals if the state statute requiring delivery access is repealed or invalidated, per Section 6.36.020.