Despite opposition from neighbors, the San Francisco Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve a second marijuana dispensary in Bernal Heights.
Commissioner Ron Miguel said that the dispensary is code-compliant, and therefore the commission had no reason to deny it. Neighbors complained that another dispensary already exists in the neighborhood, and many wondered if one isn’t enough.
Neighbors also noted that a preschool is nearby, and said that the other pot dispensary has already become a magnet for bad behavior. The commissioners disagreed.
“If you take a look at alternative medical centers…. Chinese herbal dispensary, I don’t ever hear people having a problem with three chiropractors on one block,” Miguel said. “No one has ever presented to us actual factual evidence that a dispensary is going to increase crime. I haven’t seen it at all.”
The proposed dispensary at 3139 Mission Street, called Herbal Mission, will take over a space formerly used by St. Luke’s Hospital’s administrative and billing center. The Bernal Heights Co-Op Dispensary on 29th Street is four blocks away.
The dispensary already had the blessing of the Planning Department, but the opposition made its case again.
“My family lives near the proposed site of the Marijuana Club and have witnessed first-hand the detrimental effects of this type of use on our community,” David Beaupre wrote to the Planning Department.
“Since I live directly across the street from the Bernal Collaborative, I often ask myself, if this is truly a legitimate business endeavor, why don’t I ever see patrons that remotely resemble me or my neighbors; shouldn’t it attract people that represent the community? It does not.”
Other residents and District 9 Supervisor David Campos supported the project because its sponsor, Dmitriv Margusov, agreed to open a cafe as a storefront to the dispensary. Margusov also made it a non-smoking establishment, installed lighting and agreed to install the video cameras requested by the Police Department.
The planning code doesn’t limit the number of dispensaries in a neighborhood. “They could be right next to each other” and still be code-compliant, said Diego Sanchez, the planner in charge of the project.
Even though it is within 1,000 feet of the Mission Child Development Center Preschool on Bartlett Street, the dispensary does not violate the planning code because the preschool is not considered a K-12 school or a recreation and community facility that primarily serves juveniles under 18, according to the project’s case file.
But neighbors said that the Bernal Heights Collaborative creates problems, and they fear that Herbal Mission would do the same.
The Mission Street Home Owners Association said the new dispensary is too close to an employment training center and the Roccapulco nightclub.
“We have serious concerns of persons entering and staying in the coffee shop of this business and using cannabis while their actual purpose in this neighborhood is to seek services at the unemployment office, obtain training and go to classes at the unemployment office, or go to the nightclub across the street and bars,” Eduardo Morales, the association’s president, wrote.
The Planning Department received five letters opposing the project and 11 in support, including four from employees at the Golden State Adult Day Health Center and one from the nonprofit North West Bernal Alliance.
For Rita Roti, a resident on Tiffany Avenue, it’s about economic stability.
“We are all concerned about the number of empty storefronts on Mission Street,” she wrote to the commission. “We know that empty storefronts attract graffiti and crime. We want to see more businesses flourish in our neighborhood!”
Here is a link to the planning commission MCD (Medical Cannabis Dispensary) zoning map. As you can see, the available space is limited, hence the saturation in specific neighborhoods. Space is further limited by conservative (Sunset!) districts blocking MCDs.
Here’s the link:
http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=2486
The NC-3 zoning on this stretch of Mission Street makes this one of the few areas outside of District 6 where pot clubs can locate. I think we should expect a few more pot clubs on Mission south of Cesar Chavez.
How many pot clubs does San Francisco need for the number of registered users who live in the city? Aren’t there somewhere between 40-45 clubs alredy?
How many pot clubs does San Francisco need for the number of registered users who live in the city? Aren’t there somewhere between 40-45 clubs already?
What’s the distribution of clubs? There are 3 on Valencia St within 2 blocks of each other. How many are there in Nob Hill? The Mission doesn’t need to become the Pot Club
The regulations for setting up pot clubs need to include more weight to the views of residents of the proposed location. They’re the only people who aren’t taken into account when deciding on if a pot club should be set up; at least if you’re Mission residents, that is.
What’s the distribution of clubs? There are 3 on Valencia St within 2 blocks of each other. How many are there in Nob Hill? The Mission doesn’t need to become the Pot Club district.
The pot club industry needs better regulation
It’s a bit of a catch-22 isn’t it? Having store fronts filled is better than having an empty one, but considering how there are a ton of liquor stores in the Mission that often have rude and asinine drunks outside illustrates, a lot of businesses aren’t that great to have in a neighborhood.
So the NIMBYs prefer illegal drug sales over legal drug sales? Oh wait, I’m sorry, nobody would EVER do or sell illegal drugs here in the Mission!
I’m with Eric, the NIMBYs that now live in the neighborhood are aghast at having pot smoking, brownie eating, cookie chomping poteads in the neighborhood. Well the clubs serve a purpose in the hood. The reason that the clubs exist is because the voters, yes us, voted to be compassionate to people who use weed as a medicine. You name it in there puffing and eating to their health. Marijuana is an alternative medicine and most people, not all who buy it at the clubs really have some kind of physical ailment. Would I rather have say, a severely mentally unstable person puff some weed, that they say helps keep them stable, smoke a joint, than say, go into a bar and get shit faced and violent, on the alcohol, that is legal? I say pass that joint!!
I don’t understand why you NIMBYs are not complaining about all the bars, or liquor stores on the block. Alcohol causes more deaths and disease than weed ever will in our lifetimes. In these times of fucked up medical care, we have got to use alternative medicine as a way to help people with ailments that western medicine has not been able to. Pass that joint!!!!!
I would think that the real estate would be cheaper on Mission St., than Nob Hill or Chestnut, or Union Streets.
I agree with Mark, this is unacceptable. These pot shops are popping up everywhere when it’s evident there is a serious need for more liquor stores in the area. Where are the priorities of this once great city?
It is a sign of the times that as more and more hospitals and health clinics close, medical marijuana dispensaries flourish, sometimes, as here, in the same space. Of course the argument for economic stability is compelling, but do we really want people using cannabis and sitting around a cafe when the true purpose for their visit to our neighborhood was to get drunk?
I absolutely agree: let’s not undermine the profits of the alcohol industry or stop the right kind of people coming into the neighborhood and drinking several glasses of overpriced wine at the latest pop up. Pinot not pot.