The Planning Commission at its meeting last week recommended that the City Council deny a proposed amendment that would allow the continued legal operation of Green Angel Collective, one of two existing medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of Malibu.
The council will vote on the issue during one of its meetings at an undetermined date.
Green Angel Collective filed an appeal 10 days after the Planning Commission a year ago voted 3-1 to deny the collective a conditional use permit for legal operation.
The application by Green Angel, submitted in October 2008 by appellant Linda Parsley, requested a conditional use permit to allow its continued operation in an existing commercial building located at 21355 Pacific Coast Highway near the old Malibu courthouse. It also requested a variance to allow it to operate within a 1,000-foot radius of Las Flores Canyon Park.
Though current city law allows a maximum of three medical marijuana dispensaries, the council passed a distance ordinance last year that prohibits any dispensaries from setting up shop within a 1,000-foot radius of parks, places of religious affiliation and schools, among other locations. When the city originally approved the operation of Green Angel approximately two years ago, the distance ordinance did not exist.
Medical marijuana dispensary PCH Collective, situated above PC Greens, was the issued a CUP in January after the city last year adopted an ordinance to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in all commercial zones.
Ambiguities in the distance ordinance have caused much contention in Green Angel's case. If calculated using Pacific Coast Highway, the collective's distance from Las Flores Canyon Park exceeds 1,000 feet. However, if calculated over the mountain ridge and houses that lie between, the dispensary's distance from the park is less than 1,000 feet.
The Planning Commission concluded that Green Angel could only obtain rights for legal operation by a city council-approved zone text amendment. The probability that the council will approve the amendment is unpredictable, City Associate Planner Ha Ly said in a prior telephone interview with The Malibu Times.
Calls made Monday and Tuesday to Linda Parsley and dispensary manager John Parsley were not returned before this paper went to print. But in a June 2009 letter addressed to the Planning Commission, Linda Parsley said the commission "failed to apply clear intent of the ordinance as it relates to determine the proximity of their leasehold to the reopened Las Flores Canyon Creek Park. [The commission] improperly found the Las Flores Park [had] been opened as or rebuilt as a park subsequent to [the] applicant's opening and operating as a medical marijuana collective."
The issue has also been a source of controversy among some residents and several Malibu High School students, who last year urged the Planning Commission to issue its first rejection of Green Angel's application.
"Medical marijuana dispensaries have caused an increase in drug use at Malibu High," Malibu High School student Gianna Fote wrote in an e-mail to The Malibu Times last year. "The proximity of the dispensaries to our community encourages teens to seek ways to obtain drugs from these sources."
Malibu High School student Hap Henry was also among those who were working to spread the word about why they think medical marijuana dispensaries pose negative impacts on community youths. "There are kids who are 18 and students at Malibu High School who are getting it [medical marijuana] and selling it at school," Henry said in a prior phone interview.
In response to those statements, John Parsley last year said the dispensary adheres to a strict protocol to validate the legality of each prescription it receives from its customers, which includes verifying identification cards, communicating with the prescribing doctors and keeping all pertinent patient information on file.
"We don't allow any students from Malibu High," Parsley said, adding that only individuals 18 years of age or older can legally enter the dispensary. "Most of our clientele is older, in their late twenties to fifties and sixties. We're just focused on trying to help sick people as much as we can."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Malibu Times
Copyright: 2010 Malibu Times
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
The council will vote on the issue during one of its meetings at an undetermined date.
Green Angel Collective filed an appeal 10 days after the Planning Commission a year ago voted 3-1 to deny the collective a conditional use permit for legal operation.
The application by Green Angel, submitted in October 2008 by appellant Linda Parsley, requested a conditional use permit to allow its continued operation in an existing commercial building located at 21355 Pacific Coast Highway near the old Malibu courthouse. It also requested a variance to allow it to operate within a 1,000-foot radius of Las Flores Canyon Park.
Though current city law allows a maximum of three medical marijuana dispensaries, the council passed a distance ordinance last year that prohibits any dispensaries from setting up shop within a 1,000-foot radius of parks, places of religious affiliation and schools, among other locations. When the city originally approved the operation of Green Angel approximately two years ago, the distance ordinance did not exist.
Medical marijuana dispensary PCH Collective, situated above PC Greens, was the issued a CUP in January after the city last year adopted an ordinance to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in all commercial zones.
Ambiguities in the distance ordinance have caused much contention in Green Angel's case. If calculated using Pacific Coast Highway, the collective's distance from Las Flores Canyon Park exceeds 1,000 feet. However, if calculated over the mountain ridge and houses that lie between, the dispensary's distance from the park is less than 1,000 feet.
The Planning Commission concluded that Green Angel could only obtain rights for legal operation by a city council-approved zone text amendment. The probability that the council will approve the amendment is unpredictable, City Associate Planner Ha Ly said in a prior telephone interview with The Malibu Times.
Calls made Monday and Tuesday to Linda Parsley and dispensary manager John Parsley were not returned before this paper went to print. But in a June 2009 letter addressed to the Planning Commission, Linda Parsley said the commission "failed to apply clear intent of the ordinance as it relates to determine the proximity of their leasehold to the reopened Las Flores Canyon Creek Park. [The commission] improperly found the Las Flores Park [had] been opened as or rebuilt as a park subsequent to [the] applicant's opening and operating as a medical marijuana collective."
The issue has also been a source of controversy among some residents and several Malibu High School students, who last year urged the Planning Commission to issue its first rejection of Green Angel's application.
"Medical marijuana dispensaries have caused an increase in drug use at Malibu High," Malibu High School student Gianna Fote wrote in an e-mail to The Malibu Times last year. "The proximity of the dispensaries to our community encourages teens to seek ways to obtain drugs from these sources."
Malibu High School student Hap Henry was also among those who were working to spread the word about why they think medical marijuana dispensaries pose negative impacts on community youths. "There are kids who are 18 and students at Malibu High School who are getting it [medical marijuana] and selling it at school," Henry said in a prior phone interview.
In response to those statements, John Parsley last year said the dispensary adheres to a strict protocol to validate the legality of each prescription it receives from its customers, which includes verifying identification cards, communicating with the prescribing doctors and keeping all pertinent patient information on file.
"We don't allow any students from Malibu High," Parsley said, adding that only individuals 18 years of age or older can legally enter the dispensary. "Most of our clientele is older, in their late twenties to fifties and sixties. We're just focused on trying to help sick people as much as we can."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Malibu Times
Copyright: 2010 Malibu Times
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
