Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
ADELANTO – City officials weren't willing to bend last week from plans to keep commercial medical marijuana facilities at least 1,000 feet from residential zones.
The resistance to entertaining any deviations, for now, would appear to be problematic for the only project in Adelanto which is predicated on slackening the buffer.
During an afternoon Planning Commission workshop March 14, a spokesman for Frontier Enterprises subsidiary, Industrial Integrity Solutions, suggested the five-appointee panel wait for "complete" information before making any decisions.
It's the latest IIS effort, then, that's apparently in question as the developers seek to extend their footprint in Adelanto with an 80-acre project north of Air Expressway that's also just squeezed outside the green zone expanded in December, city documents show.
"Every piece of this parcel is within 1,000 feet of a residential zone," City Attorney Curtis Wright explained in a Council workshop earlier that day. "If that 1,000-foot buffer goes into effect, it would preclude that entire parcel from being used for marijuana, even if it were zoned for marijuana."
While the Commission appeared willing to wait, the Council's rejection of softening the cushion right now trumps any conclusions the Commission would have drawn anyway.
But the Council's ultimate handling of the buffer zone will likely hold larger implications for development in the future – not only for the seemingly bountiful requests from pot entrepreneurs, but for a real estate market which has advanced far slower.
Within the 1,000-foot buffer, there is room for plenty of technical intricacies that will likely be re-addressed when it comes back to city leaders for adoption.
For instance, will the Council maintains that the buffer calculation be drawn from cannabis zone to residential zone, as it is now, or from actual development to development? Some officials have pointed out that certain residential zones have been developmentally dry for years.
"I've been here 20 years and I haven't seen nothing built out there in the desert," Planning Commission Chairman Chris Waggener said.
If the buffer were to only consider distance from developed residential land, however, it could cause consternation when a developer later proposes a housing tract and finds they're much closer to a pot facility. Such an entry might also compromise the cannabis businesses' permit renewal if it's suddenly within 1,000 feet of a home in violation of the rules.
"What is underdeveloped will become developed at one point," Wright said, "and those problems we were trying to avoid, are going to become (present)."
Mayor Rich Kerr said the rules will have to extend both ways, suggesting that while medical marijuana facilities must keep their distance from residences, new home developers seeking to build will also need to stay away from facilities.
Currently, pot facilities must be 2,500 feet away from other sensitive uses such as churches and schools.
The balancing act will likely become increasingly integral if the marijuana marketplace generates the millions of dollars in yearly revenues as touted, and if it catapults Adelanto into a destination city.
In August, plans for a 20-acre single-family residential tract were rejuvenated after a nine-year delay. Frontier Communities, another subsidiary of Frontier Enterprises, is building 65 homes on 10 acres in the city, officials have said.
Another major home builder here has been DR Horton.
In general, officials have seen housing development as a sign that investors are willing to spend in Adelanto after a lengthy departure.
Meanwhile, IIS only recently broke ground on a 630,000-square-foot medical marijuana park. Waggener, the Planning Commission chair, suggested last week that this commitment should be weighed when mulling exceptions to the 1,000-foot buffer.
"Because of the investments this company, this individual company, has put into the city already, with the infrastructure and stuff," he said, "we need to consider and see if there something viable we can make work for everybody."
Earlier, during the Council workshop, Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright opposed re-zoning the proposed project "way the hell away from where the zone is right now."
"We're losing control of where we're putting stuff," he said.
And a resident's suggestion of building a wall to block pot facilities closer than 1,000 feet from residences didn't appear to galvanize much support.
"If you're truly worried about your kids getting to that," resident Shad Boyd said, "they're not going to hop that wall."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Pot, Homes Will Co-Exist But Keep Distance In Adelanto
Author: Shea Johnson
Contact: 760-241-7744
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Daily Press
The resistance to entertaining any deviations, for now, would appear to be problematic for the only project in Adelanto which is predicated on slackening the buffer.
During an afternoon Planning Commission workshop March 14, a spokesman for Frontier Enterprises subsidiary, Industrial Integrity Solutions, suggested the five-appointee panel wait for "complete" information before making any decisions.
It's the latest IIS effort, then, that's apparently in question as the developers seek to extend their footprint in Adelanto with an 80-acre project north of Air Expressway that's also just squeezed outside the green zone expanded in December, city documents show.
"Every piece of this parcel is within 1,000 feet of a residential zone," City Attorney Curtis Wright explained in a Council workshop earlier that day. "If that 1,000-foot buffer goes into effect, it would preclude that entire parcel from being used for marijuana, even if it were zoned for marijuana."
While the Commission appeared willing to wait, the Council's rejection of softening the cushion right now trumps any conclusions the Commission would have drawn anyway.
But the Council's ultimate handling of the buffer zone will likely hold larger implications for development in the future – not only for the seemingly bountiful requests from pot entrepreneurs, but for a real estate market which has advanced far slower.
Within the 1,000-foot buffer, there is room for plenty of technical intricacies that will likely be re-addressed when it comes back to city leaders for adoption.
For instance, will the Council maintains that the buffer calculation be drawn from cannabis zone to residential zone, as it is now, or from actual development to development? Some officials have pointed out that certain residential zones have been developmentally dry for years.
"I've been here 20 years and I haven't seen nothing built out there in the desert," Planning Commission Chairman Chris Waggener said.
If the buffer were to only consider distance from developed residential land, however, it could cause consternation when a developer later proposes a housing tract and finds they're much closer to a pot facility. Such an entry might also compromise the cannabis businesses' permit renewal if it's suddenly within 1,000 feet of a home in violation of the rules.
"What is underdeveloped will become developed at one point," Wright said, "and those problems we were trying to avoid, are going to become (present)."
Mayor Rich Kerr said the rules will have to extend both ways, suggesting that while medical marijuana facilities must keep their distance from residences, new home developers seeking to build will also need to stay away from facilities.
Currently, pot facilities must be 2,500 feet away from other sensitive uses such as churches and schools.
The balancing act will likely become increasingly integral if the marijuana marketplace generates the millions of dollars in yearly revenues as touted, and if it catapults Adelanto into a destination city.
In August, plans for a 20-acre single-family residential tract were rejuvenated after a nine-year delay. Frontier Communities, another subsidiary of Frontier Enterprises, is building 65 homes on 10 acres in the city, officials have said.
Another major home builder here has been DR Horton.
In general, officials have seen housing development as a sign that investors are willing to spend in Adelanto after a lengthy departure.
Meanwhile, IIS only recently broke ground on a 630,000-square-foot medical marijuana park. Waggener, the Planning Commission chair, suggested last week that this commitment should be weighed when mulling exceptions to the 1,000-foot buffer.
"Because of the investments this company, this individual company, has put into the city already, with the infrastructure and stuff," he said, "we need to consider and see if there something viable we can make work for everybody."
Earlier, during the Council workshop, Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright opposed re-zoning the proposed project "way the hell away from where the zone is right now."
"We're losing control of where we're putting stuff," he said.
And a resident's suggestion of building a wall to block pot facilities closer than 1,000 feet from residences didn't appear to galvanize much support.
"If you're truly worried about your kids getting to that," resident Shad Boyd said, "they're not going to hop that wall."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Pot, Homes Will Co-Exist But Keep Distance In Adelanto
Author: Shea Johnson
Contact: 760-241-7744
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Daily Press
