With City Manager John Nachbar estimating that it will be a good 11 months before Culver City’s first three cannabis businesses open their mouths and open their doors, warm debate continues over how to measure and win residential approval.

Vice Mayor Thomas Small is a calming, compromising voice seeking to bring together two sides.

It remains unclear, months along, whether there is a way for the City Council to assure residents that majority homeowner support prevails in the three neighborhoods that will be selected to host the first marijuana stores.

“We can go a lot further than we ever have before,” Mr. Small said.

“The new idea I proposed (last month), of actually having a petition and having all neighbors give an up or down vote, that was too extreme for (Mayor) Jeff (Cooper) and (Councilwoman) Meghan Sahli-Wells.

“I had certainly considered a motion to include that position. If there had been a consensus,” the scholarly Mr. Small said, “I would have gone with that.

“The (city law) staff was hesitant to say whether it was legal because…  The reasoning behind that was, when you make these decisions, you want to be able to have objective criteria that motivates your decision.

“Just taking a vote of the people is subjective as to their desires.”

Mr. Small turned a kind eye toward his colleagues, Ms. Sahli-Wells and Mr. Cooper, the Council’s Cannabis Subcommittee.

“Had they been warm to my idea, I would have pursued it further,” he said. “But they have been working on this for months and months. I have not.”