Pasadena doubled down on a long standing ban on marijuana dispensaries at the end of last year, but officials are now reversing course in light of a more permissive initiative local advocates are floating.

Fearing such a citizen-led ballot measure would find voter support, city officials are scrambling to draft new regulations of their own with the goal of getting on the June ballot. Pasadena has prohibited dispensaries since 2005, though more than a dozen operate in the city illegally.

“If we go now to the voters, we’re by ourselves with our own regulations,” City Clerk Mark Jomksy said. “It would be less likely for (voters) to approve theirs in November if we already have regulations.”

Currently, despite state legalization, Pasadena is able to block dispensaries through its zoning code. A group known as Pasadena Patients for Safe Neighborhoods notified the City Clerk’s Office in December of its intention to collect signatures for a measure that would fully permit medical and commercial marijuana businesses.

To qualify for the November ballot, the group must collect 13,000 signatures in 180 days. However, council members can jump ahead of that effort by voting to put its own initiative on the June ballot — if they can come up with a framework quickly enough, council members learned at Monday’s meeting.

Pasadena Patients’ proposed regulations would permit existing dispensaries to operate legally and allow City Council to determine the number of dispensaries. They would be allowed in any area designated for general commercial use. Under its initiative, $4 of every $100 in gross receipts would be distributed to local schools, and $6 of every $100 would go to Pasadena budget’s general fund.

The advocates previously collected the same amount of signatures in roughly a month when they overturned an ordinance allowing Pasadena to shut off utilities at illegal dispensaries.

If the city doesn’t leapfrog the initiative, it risks losing control of how marijuana is regulated in Pasadena, City Manager Steve Mermell said.

“We may find ourselves explaining to our residents, ‘Sorry, all those dispensaries are now legal nonconforming uses, and there’s nothing we can do about them,'” he said.

A draft of the city’s regulations will come back for council review by the end of next month. It’s expected to take a stricter stance by setting a cap on the number of dispensaries and by blocking dispensary owners who chose to open illegally from ever becoming legitimate regardless of the changing rules, according to discussions at the meeting. A tax component is planned to offset costs to the Police Department and other city services.

The City Council may still choose to enact the regulations instead as an ordinance, rather than putting them on the ballot, and will make that decision when the proposal comes back.

However, Mermell and his staff is recommending to directly ask the voters as they are not likely to legalize pot sales in June and then vote for a different of set rules in November if the proponents push forward with their initiative, he said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated.