There are two questions the Manteca City Council is expected to answer tonight when it comes to allowing storefront marijuana sales.
The first is whether to make such sales in Manteca legal.
If previous comments are any indication, that is likely to happen.
The second question is a bit more unpredictable: How close to schools, homes, churches, and children’s facilities will marijuana sales be allowed?
The Manteca Planning Commission whose forte is zoning decisions such as buffers allowed for certain types of businesses passed on making a recommendation on restricting where such storefronts should be allowed. Instead they opted on a 4-1 split Nov. 18 to make a political statement and voted to recommend the council not allow any storefront cannabis sales in Manteca.
That means the commission didn’t weigh in on whether the city would best be served by severely limiting possible locations as was suggested after the Nov. 4 planning commission workshop That option would have limited such marijuana businesses to industrial zones with 1,000-foot buffers from any parcel with a K-12 school, commercial daycare center, youth center, substance abuse rehabilitation center or emergency shelter, areas for religious assembly use, parks, libraries or any land zoned for residential uses.
Such a restriction would allow pot sales on four parcels in the Manteca Industrial District including a shuttered building that once housed Qualex, a trucking terminal, agricultural testing lab, and a manufacturer of ecological friendly packaging.
Other potential sites would be on parcels zoned for industrial that currently have non-conforming uses on Airport Way between Wawona Street and Yosemite Avenue and near the wastewater treatment plant on Yosemite Avenue. It also includes the site of the Penske operation at Roth Road and Airport Way that handles distribution for Lowe’s Home Improvement Centers.
There are three maps the staff developed based on general directions from the council to consider placing them in combinations of business/professional, mixed commercial, general commercial, industrial, and neighborhood commercial zones.
All three maps allow for a 600 foot buffer between schools.
The first map is the most restrictive as it allows pot concerns only in industrial zones within the confines of proposed buffers. Marijuana businesses could not locate within 500 feet of substance abuse rehabilitation centers, emergency shelters, areas for religious assembly use, parks, or libraries. The map also prohibits a marijuana business from opening within 200 feet of a residentially zoned parcel.
That would allow cannabis businesses on a half dozen parcels in the Manteca Industrial Park .There also is a parcel southeast of 5.11 Tactical in northwest Manteca near the railroad.
The second map allows for significantly more locations by adding most commercial zones.
The separation for commercial daycare centers, youth centers, substance abuse rehabilitation center, an emergency shelter, religious assembly areas, parks, libraries or residential zoned parcel is reduced to 200 feet.
That provides for a larger number of parcels without conflicts. That in includes:
*almost all of the Manteca Industrial Park where the city is operating an emergency shelter with a temporary use permit and near where they plan to establish a permanent shelter.
*a large swatch of the Manteca Commerce Park near Crossroads Community Church
*a parcel next to Cabral Motors on Yosemite Avenue
*most of the commercial portion of Spreckels Park
*the north side of Yosemite Avenue from Cottage Avenue to Highway 99
*4 parcels on Yosemite Avenue east of Highway 99
*parcels southwest of Lathrop Road and Main Street
*a former patio furniture store on Moffat Boulevard
*a parcel on the southwest corner of the Main Street/120 Bypass interchange
*a parcel south of DeArcos Storage on North Main Street that was once where the ramp to the Highway 99 northbound flyover was located
*much of the CenterPoint Business Park on Airport Way where Amazon is located
*almost all of the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley complex
*5 parcels flanking Airport Way on the south side of Daniels Street where Taco Bell, McDonalds and Sizzler’s are located
*a parcel on West Yosemite near the wastewater treatment plant
The third map by adding the commercial mixed use zoning allows all of the previously listed areas and additional parcels including as follows:
*various locations within the Manteca Marketplace anchored by Big Lots as well as along the northern end of Winters Street in the commerce park directly across from La Casuelas Mexican Restaurant.
*areas along North Main Street between Louise Avenue and Northgate Drive
*the southeast corner of the Main Street and 120 Bypass interchange
*the southeast corner of Atherton Drive and Main Street
The initial plan is for the city to issue no more than three permits for storefront marijuana sales.
The City Council meets at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
