SANTA ANA – The Santa Ana City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an enforcement plan to shut down illegal pot shops in the city now that Santa Ana residents voted Nov. 4 to legalize and tax medical marijuana collectives.

The city-backed Measure BB repeals the city’s ban on medical marijuana facilities, which the City Council approved in 2007.

Now, Measure BB requires a 500-foot separation between collectives, which are allowed only in two industrial zones. A 1,000-foot separation from schools, parks and residential zones is also required. It initially imposes a 5 percent tax on gross receipts, eventually increasing to 10 percent.

Mayor Pro Tem Sal Tinajero said the city-backed measure is a “win-win” for the community.

“This is exciting. We get to shut them down. We have funding to shut them down and we get to segregate them into industrial zones,” Tinajero said.

Kandice Hawes told the City Council that it should think outside the box in enforcing the measure and advised the city to work with Weedmaps – a website that lists dispensary locations – in order to delete listings of illegal marijuana shops.

Under the proposed plan, six police officers, two community preservation inspectors, a forensic auditor and an assistant city attorney would be added to enforce the measure. On top of that, the council decided to add another legal professional to the team.

The annual cost for these positions would total $1.5 million, according to a city staff report.

The cost to offset the staff positions will be funded by the estimated revenue from the tax charged to each permitted dispensary, the report said.

Based on estimated annual gross receipts, the city estimates revenue of $1.56 million from 12 dispensaries.

The plan, according to the report, “will focus on gaining rapid closure of any collectives/dispensaries operating illegally.”

Illegal pot shops, the city said, should start shutting down by Feb. 5, when legal collectives are selected.

Santa Ana’s measure will be certified by the City Council at a Dec. 9 meeting.

The city’s planning director will then prepare registration application forms that each collective must submit.

Once all qualified applications are processed, the director will hold a lottery Feb. 5 in a public location to select locations from the qualified registration list.

For more on the medical marijuana process in the city, go to santa-ana.org/CannabisCollectives.