Title of assignment: Assignment-Peeling Back the Layers of the Onion: A Licensing Application
You work for the planning department in the city of Whoville, GA. The City Council is in the process of drafting an ordinance regulating local cannabis businesses, including the licensing of such businesses. For this activity, in order to prevent duplicative licensing efforts, you are asked to prepare a 2-3 page memo outlining the steps a local applicant will need to take in order to submit a completed application for a edible cannabis business license at the STATE level.
To help get you started, read the following:
- GTY Technology Holdings Inc. (1 C.E., Autumn 2020). San Francisco and GTY’s CityBase Launch Online Recreational Cannabis Business Licensing System
- (Links to an external site.)
- . Business Wire (English).
- Godderis L, Fricke, W., & Zimmerman, J. (2019). Developing Local Cannabis Regulation
- (Links to an external site.)
- . Public Management (00333611), 101(2), 7–11.
When writing your memo, keep your audience in mind. As a city planner, what are the most important considerations. Start with what the State requires and then create what you are going to require at the local level. As you write keep the following key questions in mind to address in your memo:
- What steps will you want applicants to take to demonstrate their qualifications for a license?
- Is there a social equity requirement in your process?
- Is there a clear timeline for applicants?
- What additional information will an applicant need to gather?
- Who else might need to engage with an applicant in order to see the application through completion?
- What problems or roadblocks might an applicant need to plan for?


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