Fence questioned
the newer rules pertaining to the outlet location being adjacent to homes should also apply. Not that an old rule can apply for one aspect and a newer one for another just to get the application approved.
The board also stated that the outlet is incompatible with the Rancho Bernardo Community Plan. In reference to commercial objectives, commercial facilities are to be designed to reduce the potential for criminal activity, the board said. Since city code requires cannabis outlets to have multiple security measures — operable cameras, alarms and an on-site security guard during business hours — “the City assumes the potential for criminal activity.”
The board also opposes the project manager’s reasoning when eliminating the Kumon Math and Reading Center as a minor-oriented facility when measuring separation between the proposed outlet and such businesses. The city’s Municipal Code requires a minimum 1,000-foot separation and the two locations are much closer. Kumon’s tutoring clients are children and teens.
The fence, installed by Urbn Leaf to change the path of travel measurement between Hope United Methodist Church and the outlet is also under debate.
“The Planning Commission should note that before the path was closed by the insertion of the fence, it was a ‘good neighbor’ pathway for the members of Hope United Methodist Church, residents of Bernardo Heights and the visitors to the shopping center. The insertion of the fence was not a ‘neighborly’ act.”
No one from Urbn Leaf attended last week’s meeting. On Sept. 15, when the board decided it would file an appeal should the hearing officer side with the applicant, public affairs consultant Phil Rath spoke on behalf of Urbn Leaf and owner Will Senn.
Rath stated then that the Municipal Code allows path of travel to be used for measurements, not “as the crow flies.”
“It is the rules in effect at the time the application was deemed complete,” Rath said.
According to Rath, the company installed fencing and a wall that extends the path of travel enough to
meet the minimum standards, which made the proposed outlet’s location more than 1,000 feet from a religious facility or school and 100 feet from a residential area.
During the board’s Development Review Committee meeting Sept. 6, Rath addressed the distance between the outlet and Kumon Math and Reading Center. He said it is not an issue because Kumon serves minors in less than half of the building in which it is located and it is an after-school program, not a school.
“We look forward to being good neighbors ... not being a nuisance,” Rath said during the Sept. 6 meeting.
He also said the updated version of the Municipal Code does not apply to this project due to the application’s completion date and it can be “grandfathered in” with an “alternative method for measuring path of travel.”