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LA MESA, Calif. – La Mesa City Council voted Tuesday night in favor of an appeal to stop a proposal for a medical marijuana shop from moving forward.
The board voted 3-2 for the appeal denying a conditional use permit for dispensary chain Urbn Leaf to open a new location on a sloping lot at 7901 Hillside Drive near El Cajon Boulevard. The ruling effectively shoots down the recommendation of the city’s Planning Commission for the medical marijuana facility.
If it had been approved, the site would have been the city’s 18th medical marijuana shop.
But those against the project called into the meeting with concerns over the proposal’s proximity to a school and an existing marijuana retail store, among other issues.
“With this particular retail marijuana storefront in La Mesa, it would be your number 18,” said Dana Stevens who helped lead the appeal. “There would be 18 shops and there are two more under review.”
Urbn Leaf has been in business in La Mesa for several years at other locations. Officials with the chain say it always operates in compliance with local rules and guidelines.
“The security guard guards that area on the first floor and will not allow entrances from El Cajon Boulevard,” Urbn Leaf consultant Phil Rath said. “That is a condition of the permit and we believe the city that they would take our permit away if that starts happening.”
This Urbn Leaf location would have only been accessible from Hillside Drive on the residential side, not El Cajon Boulevard which already houses another marijuana shop called Cookies.
“Will this decision set a trend for our city,” resident Janet Castanos said, “so that everyone who lives within two blocks of a mixed-use area could end up with cannabis dispensaries facing right into their neighborhoods?”
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