Pot businesses get leeway in location
San Diego approves shops near churches despite laws barring them from being in such proximity.
SAN DIEGO — The city has approved at least seven marijuana businesses near churches, despite city laws prohibiting such businesses from opening in proximity to churches, schools, parks, playgrounds, libraries or housing.
In many of the cases, San Diego granted the approval because the marijuana business discovered the church did not have proper building permits, was illegally located in a flood plain or was violating some other city rule.
In other cases, city approval came because the marijuana business and the church were separated by a freeway or some other barrier that impedes direct physical access, despite the proximity.
And in at least two cases, the marijuana business paid the church to move to another location farther away after filing multiple code compliance complaints against the church.
Opponents of legalized marijuana say the potential for enormous profits has prompted businesses to intimidate or harass churches that stand in the way of opening either a dispensary or an indoor pot farm.
The businesses scrutinize every aspect of a church’s permitting and zoning in search of any discrepancy that could force the church to move or prompt the city to deem it an illegal operation, said Scott Chipman, leader of the nonprofit San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods.
“Even though a church has been there for many years, all of the sudden they have no standing because of some minor technicality,” Chipman said. “The city is not giving the existing businesses the same courtesy as pot businesses.”
Industry leaders say that they have done nothing wrong and that everyone needs to play by the city’s rules.
“The City Council legislated the criteria for granting conditional use permits for marijuana facilities that they believe protect the public — including staff and customers,” said Rachel Laing, spokeswoman for the United Medical Marijuana Coalition. “Our members abide by these regulations and are held accountable for doing so.”
Churches must do the same, Laing said.
“Like our members’ facilities, churches have a responsibility to meet criteria for conditional use permits that were designed to protect the public, including their staff and congregants,” she said. “They alone are responsible for meeting their obligations under the law and operating safely.”
But church leaders and Chipman’s group say the city is at least violating the spirit of the law, if not the actual law.
“The intention of the distance requirements was to keep these businesses away from churches,” Chipman said. “But the city has given the industry a loophole.”
City laws allowing dispensaries, approved in 2014, and marijuana production facilities, approved in 2017, prohibit the businesses within 100 feet of housing and within 1,000 feet of churches, schools, parks, playgrounds and libraries.
Elyse Lowe, director of the city’s Development Services Department, said the city has had no choice but to approve the marijuana businesses despite the proximity of churches.
“The city is not violating the spirit of the law,” Lowe said. “We consistently apply the rules for making determinations about adjacent uses. If the church is operating without proper permits, it may or may not be a permissible use at that location. It would be abusing the city’s discretion to not allow another applicant to move forward on that basis.”
Jessica McElfresh, a local attorney representing marijuana businesses, said it’s important to note that such businesses have frequently avoided potential sites for the sole reason that a church is nearby.
So, she said, the spirit of the law has clearly been honored in many cases. Leaders of the affected churches declined requests for interviews last week.
Chipman said that is because they fear retaliation, particularly further scrutiny of their permits and zoning.
But Pastor Louis Wilburn of Gateway Christian Fellowship expressed his frustration during a 2017 Planning Commission hearing on a nearby proposed dispensary in Mission Valley.
“I went to planning and zoning and they indicated there was no requirement of permits because we are in an office building with multiple uses,” Wilburn said. “It kind of bothers me the underhanded approach these folks are taking.”
In November of that year, Wilburn and Gateway withdrew their opposition and notified city officials they would be moving to a new location, eliminating any hurdles to the dispensary’s opening.
Sarang Church in Kearny Mesa also moved after facing code compliance complaints and being bought out of its location by a marijuana business.
A marijuana business was approved near Grace Tabernacle Church in Otay Mesa because the church was found to be illegally operating in a flood plain.
Other churches that have struggled with “sensitive use” status because of zoning or permitting technicalities include Hope United Methodist Church in Rancho Bernardo and Canyon Ridge Baptist Church in Linda Vista.
In addition, Word for Life Ministries in Mission Valley and the Academy of Our Lady of Peace in University Heights were denied sensitive use status because a barrier impeded direct physical access to the proposed marijuana business.
For Word for Life, the barrier was the 8 Freeway. For Our Lady of Peace, it was a canyon.
Those approvals are the result of a rule change city officials made after the dispensary law took effect.
Initially, distance separations were measured by actual distance, but city officials later decided to base them on travel distance, which can be longer if barriers are in between.
Chipman said marijuana businesses are the only types of businesses for which the city interprets distance separation requirements that way.