V-Town Farms given extension to comply

Cannabis club must also pay $300,000 flat fee

After not meeting several conditions of its major use permit, local cannabis club V-Town Farms was given an extension date of Sept. 20 by the Vallejo City Council to get its affairs in order.

The Tuesday night decision came nearly three months after the Vallejo Planning Commission denied a proposal to amend several conditions of the permit, including having the organization donate $600,000 to local nonprofit agencies each year. V-Town Farms filed a March 3 appeal requesting that the planning commission denial be overturned.

Another point of contention: if V-Town Farms had to maintain transparent windows that allow visibility into the store, with a minimum of 60% transparency on the street frontage at the ground level and at a minimum of

four feet above the ground.

The building permit was originally issued July 2. According to the Vallejo city staff report, the temporary certificate of occupancy issued to V-Town Farms has expired, and the following building permit requirements are not in compliance:

• The interior walls separating the retail space from the non-occupied space within the building premises do not continue all the way up to the ceiling, so the occupied and unoccupied spaces are sharing the same air.

Accordingly, the plans for HVAC system does not comply as the system is designed only for the V-town tenant space.

• The building permit application for the exterior Lighting Plan (a condition of approval) was withdrawn by the applicant.

• The trash enclosure has not been completed.

• The permit for roof repair has expired. The roof needs a final inspection.

• The mechanical permit for Carbon filtration has not had an inspection

“We've overextended and over-accommodated VTown Farms,” Vice Mayor Rozzana Verder-Aliga said.

Besides the extension date, V-Town Farms must pay a flat fee of $300,000 instead of $600,000 for the first year — only with 1% of revenue after the first year. V-Town Farms was proposing that it pay 1% of income from its yearly income, but some council members demanded that amount was not enough.

V-Town Farms originally estimated that it would make $60 million a year, but sales have only been $9 million in the past year, according to V-Town Farms.

While some have pointed to the 44 jobs provided by V-Town Farms, others wondered why the organization was able to get out of an agreement it had made itself. Others, especially in favor of V-Town Farms, asked why the business had to comply with rules other cannabis clubs in Vallejo (there are nearly a dozen) didn't have to attend to, especially when it came to 60% transparency with windows and visibility levels.

“Both of these approaches are completely unaffordable,” V-Town Farms Management team member Chuck Wesley said in a speech given to the council Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. “So if the 60% requirement is still required, then we will have to reconfigure the retail store, narrow the retail area to reduce the storefront and that would give us an opportunity by spending $20,000 to $30,000 to add some glass to the center to give us the 60% requirement. But it means reducing the retail floor and that means reducing manufacturing and distribution because manufacturing is limited to 10% of the retail floor and distribution is limited to 30 percent, so both of those would be downsized.”

Wesley's wife, Sandy, also spoke to the council.

“Tonight we came here for two things and it seems he (Chuck) should have brought a lawyer because all these things are popping up that make it sound like he's not honest and he doesn't have a good intention in your city and you have be leery or protective or distrustive,” Sandy Wesley said. “This didn't go as planned. He planned to make a lot of money here and contribute a lot to the city. Nobody planned to have it go this way, but it has. It wasn't done deceitfully.”

“You guys have each other and that should be enough,” she continued. “You shouldn't have to attack people that come here to do business with you. You shouldn't look for ways to chase people off but I think you might have succeeded.”

Public speaker Rhonda Chadwick, another dispensary owner, said, “You have given them unfair advantages over me. I was not allowed to open until I had all of my compliances in order. We weren't allowed to open until then so they (V-Town Farms) have used you (the council), they tricked you and damaged me.”

Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz complimented cleanup by the Wesleys, but thought the work has to be completed soon as “a safety issue.”

“I think you've had, Mr. Wesley, more than enough time,” Loera-Diaz said. “Nine months is a long time. I'm willing to support giving you an additional month or two, 60 days, to finish up the work that needs to be done. That's not only to please us but that's for your safety and your employees safety for you to comply like every other business does.

“As far as the amount that you had mentioned you would give to the nonprofits ($600,000), I understand it's been a difficult time and a lot of business in town have lost revenue and some have barely stayed afloat. However, I think reducing it to 1 percent (revenue) for this particular year is not something I would support because I am a woman of my word and when I say I'm going to do something, I do it. I wouldn't expect you to do the full $600,000 considering your income, but something closer to half.”

Councilmember Cristina Arriola, originally not in favor of V-Town Farms opening a year ago, said she was in favor of the business having a 24-hour security guard to handle safety issues rather than complying with the 60% transparent issues with the windows.

However, she was not as forgiving in her speech when she discussed the money not given to nonprofits.

Said Arriola: “The promise of the money that was going to be divided up to the community in North Vallejo, that was a little misstep on your side … you overestimated how much money you were going to be bringing into town, so I have a problem with that. But I am willing to compromise if council so does desire to put up a good portion of that half to that.”