Within the last two months,
at least two buildings in the Valley almost became home to marijuana dispensaries.
These efforts to set up pot
shops in the area highlight a loophole in county policy regarding marijuana
dispensaries.
For many business owners,
establishing a dispensary in the county’s jurisdiction is as simple as getting
the OK from a property owner, according to county officials.
Diane Norman, owner of the
Miramar Collective in Summerland, told the Journal that she was recently in
negotiations with property owners in Santa Ynez and Los Olivos to establish a
dispensary.
Both plans fell through when
the building’s tenants became concerned when they caught wind of what was going
on, compelling the owners to withdraw from the contracts, Norman said.
Norman said the North County
is an ideal spot for a dispensary because it would provide a place for patients
living in San Luis Obispo, where moratoriums on dispensaries are the norm, to
legally access medicinal marijuana.
“We’re in Summerland, and
many of our customers come out of Ventura County,” she said. “We’d like to
provide that same convenience to people living in San Luis Obispo.”
The Solvang resident said
the landlord at Edison and Madera streets (across the street from the Journal)
agreed to lease out the space, but changed her mind while building was
underway.
Norman said she plans on
taking the owner, Antonia Arroyo, to small claims court for violating their
contract by refusing to reimburse her for the improvements made inside the
building.
In an email to the Journal,
Arroyo said, “There is nothing and there was nothing there.”
Nevertheless, the owner of a
business near the suite, who asked to remain anonymous, said people had been
asking her employees when the dispensary was opening. She also witnessed
Sheriff’s deputies coming by to check out the suite.
“I was really concerned,”
she said. “I wasn’t quite clear what was going on in there, but we’re a tiny
building, and I worried about security.”
Lt. Mark Liddi of the
Sheriff’s Department said a narcotics detective told him that the owner claimed
Norman entered into a lease based on false information — something Norman
adamantly denied.
Norman said she also
attempted to open a dispensary in the 2000 block of Nojoqui in Los Olivos.
“The owner (Bob Bartlett)
came in and visited my store in Summerland,” she said. “His opinion was that
all the wineries in Los Olivos are far more dangerous than medical cannabis.”
Bartlett told the Journal he
was aware of the situation but did not comment further.
“I sympathize with Bob,”
Norman said. “He went to speak to the sheriffs three times, and then he told a
couple of his tenants that he was thinking about leasing the space to a medical
cannabis collective and they went into frantic mode.”
Lax guidelines rule
Now that the federal
government has decided it will call off the dogs in regard to prosecuting legal
users or providers of marijuana, and without rules from California, the
guidelines to regulate medicinal marijuana have been left to local
jurisdictions.
While cities such as Santa
Barbara are currently bolstering restrictions on top of the requirements people
must meet to get permits for dispensaries, the Santa Barbara County Board of
Supervisors has erected no hurdles for those seeking to open medical marijuana
dispensaries in unincorporated areas as long as the facilities are established
in the retail zones, said Petra Leyva, supervising planner for county Planning
and Development.
According to Black, those
looking to set up a dispensary are only required to obtain a land-use permit
when they change their building zoning to retail use.
On Oct.16, business owner
William Walt got approval to set up a marijuana dispensary on a property just
off the El Sueno on ramp near Goleta. But because the building was previously a
physical therapy clinic, it fell under the “medical” land-use zoning, which
required the owner to request a land use permit.
A neighbor has appealed to
the county Planning Commission, which could take up the matter within the next
two months.
Had the space been a
bookstore, Walt could have sidestepped the county’s planning department.
He would have also been able
to avoid giving neighbors within 300 feet of the property 10 days notice —
as required by a land use permit.
“I think our ordinances don’t
provide the development standards that some in the community would like to see,”
admitted Dianne Black, development services director in the county Planning
Department. “We’re only now being confronted with these dispensaries.”
A month before, local
attorney William Wolf tried to establish a dispensary called the Wellness
Center in Orcutt. The county Planning Commission was considering whether to
issue a land use permit until the owner of the building, Greti Croft, confirmed
that the prior use of the property was retail.
Although the project skirted
the commission, it was ultimately torpedoed by the outcry of tenants, who
convinced Croft to pass on the dispensary.
“I wanted the best for them,
for Orcutt and for the community,” said Croft. “I know I wouldn’t like to live
or do business next to a dispensary. They said they were selling natural
healing stuff, but then they came back and said it was marijuana. Naturally,
the tenants were concerned about safety.”
Croft said five other offers
came from other business owners, all wanting to build a marijuana dispensary.
Public concern
Some community members fear
that weak regulation of marijuana dispensaries will have detrimental
consequences.
“These facilities will
import crime into unsuspecting neighborhoods,” said veterinarian Doug Herthel,
a member of the Preservation of Los Olivos. “With the federal government
backing off, we’re going to experience the same problems they’re experiencing
in Los Angeles County, if the county doesn’t act.”
During the planning hearings
over the proposed Orcutt dispensary, some concerned citizens referenced
information from the Drug Enforcement Agency regarding dispensaries in Los
Angeles.
With reportedly more than
800 dispensaries, Los Angeles is often referred to as the country’s capital of
medical marijuana.
In January 2007, for
example, the DEA executed 11 search warrants and identified 17 owners or
operators in the Los Angeles area. Of these owners and operators: 14 had prior
criminal histories; seven had prior weapons charges; eight had prior drug
charges; and two had murder or attempted murder charges.
“I agree there is some
ambivalence among a lot of people who believe the medicinal use of marijuana
can bring relief for some people, while also being concerned about how it might
be dispensed,” said 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr. “It’s an ongoing issue
that gets resolved jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
“And I would take my lead
from the community. When issues started to come to the fore in Orcutt, it wasn’t
the county but the property owner deciding that it was a business she didn’t
want.
“And if there were
sufficient public concern about it in the county, I think the public health
department would bring the issue to the board of supervisors.”
Fourth District Planning Commissioner Joe Valencia said he couldn’t
understand why it can take months to get a permit for a wine tasting room but,
in these cases, zero days to get the OK for a marijuana dispensary.
“While I recognize that the state voters support the
medicinal use of marijuana, I still don’t agree that it should be sold in the
stores like flowers or fruits,” he said. “The guideline that we have now is
overtly weak. (Dispensaries are) not out of control now, but they will be if
people don’t stand up.”
Norman, whose plan to put a
dispensary in the Valley is currently up in the air, said she sees things
differently.
“I used to think people who
smoked were hippies and casual surfer stoners — all doing it
recreationally,” she said. “I changed my mind once I opened this collective.
They’re not derelicts, they’re not gang members. They’re Montecito people, they’re
well dressed, and I saw how they were really benefiting from it.”
Norman said the only
complaint she’s heard about her dispensary when she opened it up was the smell —
an issue she said has since rectified.
And she said crime
accompanies some dispensaries because they’re run by
unscrupulous people.
“We’re indistinguishable
from a Longs Drugs pharmacy,” she said. “We insist that people provide all
legal documentation, and we only purchase from collectives so we know where
they’re growing it and how they’re growing it.”
jfoster@syvjournal.com