Supervisors temporarily ban more pot shops
San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last Wednesday to immediately enact a 45-day moratorium on medical marijuana collectives, a decision that Ramona Community Planning Group (RCPG) chair Jim Piva said is a win for Ramona.
“It was the best we could hope for,” Piva said after the supervisors’ March 16 meeting that had an overflow crowd.
With one dispensary open and four other medical marijuana-related facilities proposed for Ramona, the planning group sent a letter to the board of supervisors asking for a ban on collectives or modifications to the county’s ordinance regulating them.
RCPG secretary Kristi Mansolf told supervisors that the group’s intent is to protect the citizens.
“We don’t want to see Ramona serving medical needs of the entire county,” she said.
The board’s 4-0 vote directed staff to return April 27 with findings on health and safety issues, options for stricter regulations, and consideration of a ban.
After hearing testimony from two groups, one of them representing the recently-licensed ShowGrow in Ramona, and seven individuals opposed to a ban or moratorium, and just over two dozen in favor, Supervisor Dianne Jacob said she would support a ban.
“My opinion has always been cannabis should go through the process of any drug under the FDA (Federal Drug Administration),” she said.
Supervisor Bill Horn agreed with a ban.
“I think Prop. 215 was misguided,” he said. “I think these storefronts have been a real problem.”
Jacob said a ban would not deny access to a medical marijuana patient as the City of San Diego has seven legal dispensaries and six more have been approved, and two dispensaries are operating in the unincorporated area — ShowGrow at 736 Montecito Way in Ramona and Outliers near Gillespie Field in El Cajon.
Supervisors Greg Cox and Dave Roberts, however, said they could not support a ban at this time but agreed to a moratorium.
“I believe it’s going to take time to get this right,” said Roberts.
Cox said he did not support Proposition 215, the 1996 state initiative to legalize medical marijuana, but he is sympathetic to those with legitimate needs.
Cox and Roberts said no community should have more than one dispensary.
“I don’t think Ramona or any other community should be subject to have multiple locations,” Cox said.
In addition to the two open dispensaries in the unincorporated county, county Planning and Development Services have issued building permits for two more in Ramona, one in unincorporated El Cajon, and one in Valley Center. Four applications have building permits under review: one in Ramona, one in Julian, and two in Lakeside.
Those against the dispensaries, mostly from Ramona and Julian, cited public safety issues such as increased traffic, impaired drivers on dangerous highways and back roads, and marijuana getting into the hands of youths.
Dino Berardino, a business partner for a dispensary at 618 Pine St. in Ramona, which is pending an operating certificate, said they have always been committed to working within the county and sheriff’s department guidelines.
“I want each of you to know we share these concerns,” said Berardino, a cancer survivor.
Jean Duffy, coordinator of Drug Free Julian, brought a petition signed by 400 people against dispensaries in Julian, and Dana Stevens with Communities Against Substance Abuse said she had signatures from 206 people calling for a moratorium and outright ban on storefronts.
According to the county, the moratorium prohibits the ability for new medical marijuana facilities to be established and applications in process would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Sapphire Blackwood with Green Capital Ventures asked the board to allow medical marijuana cultivation. Blackwood represents a client that has been interested in implementing indoor cultivation at 2338 Montecito Road. She said her client has purchased property in Ramona and is in escrow, and she has been advising her client based on the ordinance.
Gina Austin, an attorney representing ShowGrow, said they see 20 to 30 patients a day at the 1,107-square-foot dispensary, and would be submitting plans for a 10,000-12,000-square-foot, fully-enclosed, on-site cultivation. At build-out they will employ 20 to 30 full-time employees, she said. The moratorium, said Austin, would prohibit the facility from its buildout process.
“What I am trying to understand is why are there so many in Ramona and why are they so close to residences,” said Stephanie Moss, who moved to Ramona four years ago with her husband and three children. With one dispensary four houses away and the possibility of three others within a one-to-two-mile radius of her home, Moss said she would be afraid to allow her children to ride their bikes the quarter-mile to their grandparents’ house.
Moss said a dispensary must be in an industrial zone and 1,000 feet from a residential zone, but there are industrial areas where there is residential use.
Jacob’s motion for a moratorium also requested staff to return with zoning changes that would require medical marijuana facilities maintain a 1,000-foot separation buffer from properties in which a residential use can take place, and require a major use permit so such projects would have to go before a community planning group. The board also wants to increase enforcement efforts and civil penalties for non-compliance.
The board could extend the moratorium on April 27 for up to 10 months and 15 days, said staff, and after that time could extend again for a maximum of one year.