Lemon Grove advances 2 new cannabis dispensaries. Here are the details.

LEMON GROVE — 

Lemon Grove leaders have advanced two new cannabis dispensaries while simultaneously pushing companies to do more to keep marijuana away from children.

The City Council voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to give conditional use permits to Element 7, a company that would also launch a cannabis delivery service, and to Rita Hirmez and Sabah Toma, who wish to open on Broadway in what is currently the Little Darlings strip club.

Both shops would sell medical and recreational marijuana in the northern part of the city. Launch dates are likely months away as each site requires extensive renovation.

The additions would be a significant expansion of the industry in East County.

Cannabis shops remain illegal in El Cajon and Santee has only recently moved slowly toward the market. The region has long been dominated by La Mesa, which has far more dispensaries than its neighbors.

While almost all Lemon Grove council members were in favor of the two projects, the city is moving to increase safety requirements for all shops after officials raised concerns about how the dispensaries could increase local traffic and the potential for cannabis to be misused.

Although the council’s newest member, Alysson Snow, ultimately voted for both businesses, she voiced “deep concerns” about their potential effects.

“I’m just looking for a good community partner,” she said. “This is a controlled substance, and it needs to be treated as such.”

Business leaders pledged to do whatever they could to ensure their products were used wisely.

Broadway dispensary

One permit is for 8290 Broadway, where the strip club sits.

“It will be an improvement to the site, an improvement to the neighborhood,” Gina Austin, an attorney representing Hirmez and Toma, told the council.

The project would add landscaping and could upgrade the sidewalk, according to city records. Austin said she did not want to give many specifics about their security but ensured leaders the system was robust.

She also agreed to add a community advisory board, likely made up of three to five people, who could act as liaisons to the surrounding neighborhood in addition to an employee who’s already required to serve that role.

The owners do not plan to use an on-site billboard to advertise, Austin added.

The proposal has attracted some controversy since another businessman, Christopher Williams, tried and failed to open a shop next door. Lemon Grove doesn’t allow dispensaries to be within 1,000 feet of each other, meaning Williams’ loss allowed the other group to step in.

Williams attended Tuesday’s meeting to say he’d sue if the council didn’t reverse course and again denied having any hand in a bribe allegedly offered to the mayor over the deal.

The city attorney said a criminal investigation is underway.

The council approved the permit for Williams’ rivals in a 4-0 vote, with Councilmember Liana LeBaron abstaining. LeBaron has long defended Williams and said Tuesday she didn’t believe her colleagues that the city had followed its own rules when deciding which project to approve.

Federal Boulevard dispensary

The other permit is for an abandoned warehouse at 6691 Federal Blvd. which used to house La Mesa Glass.

The new company, Element 7, already has shops around the state, including in Chula Vista. Lemon Grove’s would be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., officials said.

Customers would first check in at a lobby and the site would include more than a dozen 4K cameras, in addition to other security measures, according to company officials and city records.

Some profits would be voluntarily set aside for community improvements and a council made up of residents, not employees, would meet throughout the year to decide how to spend that money, said Chief Operating Officer Josh Black.

He emphasized that no billboards would be used and the company wouldn’t advertise in publications kids might see. Delivery drivers will scan ID’s to make sure customers are of age and bar codes could help law enforcement track if adults ever buy cannabis for children, Black said.

He was open to increasing the education offered to new customers and he said the company was already going into nursing homes elsewhere to give residents more information about cannabis.

“I’m a father,” he said. “Anything we can do to protect youth and educate them better is something that we’re fully supportive of.”

A few residents raised concerns about increased traffic in the area, leading Councilmember Liana LeBaron to cast the lone “no” vote, saying she was too worried about safety on the road.

Some of her colleagues agreed that speeding drivers were a problem, and Jennifer Mendoza asked if staffers could explore designing a new sidewalk slated for the site in a way that would encourage people to ease up on the gas pedal.

Bill Chopyk, the city’s interim Community Development Manager, assured the council that the shop wouldn’t dramatically increase congestion.

While Federal Boulevard has the capacity for around 24,000 vehicles a day, it’s currently only seeing an average of about 13,000, he said. The new dispensary would add an estimated 410 daily trips.

Mayor Pro Tem George Gastil said taxes from the new businesses could give the city more options when dealing with traffic, including adding a possible light to a nearby intersection.

“The revenue that we get from the economic development would help us deal with some of the issues we have in that part of town,” he said.

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