Pubdate: Thu, 30 Oct 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: David Garrick

POT SHOP BY SPORTS ARENA REJECTED

Under Ordinance, Site Too Close to Park

SAN DIEGO - A marijuana dispensary proposed near the sports arena was 
rejected on Wednesday for being too close to Mission Bay Park, even 
though the pot shop would be separated from the park by Interstate 8 
and the San Diego River.

Supporters of the proposed dispensary called the ruling absurd, and 
the group trying to open it said they would appeal the decision to 
the Planning Commission.

City officials said the ordinance approved last winter to allow San 
Diego's first legal dispensaries doesn't permit officials to consider 
natural or man-made barriers in their decisions.

It would have been the second legal marijuana dispensary to be 
approved in the city. The first, a facility proposed near Otay Mesa, 
was approved by a city hearing officer two weeks ago but appealed on 
Monday to the Planning Commission by opponents.

A county-approved dispensary opened just outside El Cajon in late 
July. It's the only legal dispensary operating in San Diego County, 
but an estimated 100 illegal pot shops continue to operate while 
authorities try to shut them down.

The group trying to open the sports arena dispensary, which officials 
said is less than 200 feet from Mission Bay Park, tried 
unsuccessfully on Wednesday to persuade City Hearing Officer Kenneth 
Teasley to waive a prohibition against dispensaries opening within 
1,000 feet of parks.

During the one-hour public hearing that preceded the ruling, the 
group said the location satisfies the intent of the regulations to 
keep dispensaries and parks separate because the freeway and river do that.

Chris Larson, a senior city planner, said the regulations don't allow 
for such exceptions.

"There is no ability to take into account any natural or built 
barriers," said Larson, adding that council members would have 
included such exceptions if that was their intent.

Supporters of the dispensary, which would be located just north of 
the sports arena on a cul-de-sac called Hickok Street, disagreed.

"Even those in the medical marijuana patient and provider community 
who thought the buffer zones were too strict never imagined this kind 
of interpretation," said Margaret Gibert of the Alliance For 
Responsible Medicinal Access. "In no way would this cooperative 
impede on the full enjoyment of parkland."

The location is the best spot in the Midway district for a dispensary 
based on parking, traffic and the lack of children in the area, said 
Paul Britvar, a spokesman for the applicant, Douglas McCrady.

Resident Carol Green, an opponent, said the city spent too much time 
creating the dispensary rules to start bending them.

"The City Council voted, everyone agreed, and we need to stick with 
them," she said.

Other opponents focused on different factors.

Karen Lenyoun of the North City Prevention Coalition said there is 
too much crime in the Midway area to allow a pot shop. Rich Thesing, 
a Tierrasanta resident, said no legal pot shops should open until all 
of the illegal ones are closed.

Scott Chipman of San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods said the minimum 
age for buying medical marijuana should be increased from 18 to 21. 
He also said the two-story building proposed for the dispensary is too large.

Bradley Wright, the building's owner, said it was ideal for a 
dispensary, noting that an illegal one operated there for about two 
years before authorities shut it down last spring.

An approval would have been bad news for several other groups 
proposing dispensaries near the sports arena, now known as the Valley 
View Casino Center, because city regulations prohibit two pot shops 
from opening within 1,000 feet of each other.

Nearly half of the 38 dispensaries proposed in the city are in the 
Midway district, including several near the site rejected Wednesday.

In addition, the ordinance caps the number of dispensaries per 
council district at four, so an approval would have left only three 
slots for 17 other applicants in District 2.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom