Neighbors Fend off pot dispensary

RIVERSIDE: Neighbors fend off pot dispensary


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10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, August 13, 2011

By ALICIA ROBINSON
Staff Writer arobinson@pe.com
Some residents in the Magnolia Center area of Riverside appear to have blocked the opening of a medical marijuana dispensary, ending a drama that unfolded over several months.

It began with a dead lawn.

Riverside resident Craig Celse owns a gabled Victorian home at the corner of Brockton and Merrill avenues that he rents for residential use.

After city code enforcement officers cited him for dead grass, Celse put in shrubs, rosebushes and irrigation, he said in an interview. During a follow-up inspection, a code enforcement official noticed a car partly outside the paved parking area and told Celse he needed to make the driveway bigger.

So Celse poured more concrete, only to learn that he should first have gotten a special permit because the house is in a designated historic district. He applied for the permit and the city set a hearing for Aug. 17.

Meanwhile, something was going on with the home's new tenants, whom Celse had found through a broker.

Neighbors were surprised to hear the house was being turned into a medical marijuana dispensary, said Janice Bielman, assistant chairwoman of the Magnolia Area Neighborhood Alliance, a residents' group.

Neighbors saw bullet-proof glass and a heavy-duty security system being installed, Bielman said.

Many of the houses along that leg of Brockton have been rezoned for business -- a dentist is across the street -- but Celse's house hasn't been, and city officials say the zoning code bans dispensaries anyway.

"We were just floored that they would attempt to put one in a house that is not an existing business in any way," Bielman said.

The neighbors' main concern, Bielman said, is that the cross-streets stretching behind the house are a purely residential area.

Luke Luce, who planned to open the dispensary and already operates one in Mentone, said Friday that he chose Riverside because he has patients there who otherwise have to drive a long way for their medicine.

He said he complies with state law and does "everything by the book."

After residents contacted the city, the city attorney's office began an investigation. City Attorney Greg Priamos said the investigation showed unpermitted alterations inside the house that "are not residential," and the dispensary was advertising online an opening date of Aug. 6. He sent a cease and desist letter.

Luce said he understood from the real estate broker that the zoning would allow a commercial use, and he's not sure if any permits were required for the improvements.

Celse, the property owner, said in the three months the tenants have been in the house, he's never met them and they've paid their rent on time. The dispensary issue was news to him when Priamos' office contacted him, he said.

He's cooperating with the city, and in anticipation of a crowd of angry neighbors at Wednesday's hearing, he withdrew his request for the driveway permit and will tear out the new concrete, he said later Thursday.

He also planned to tell the tenants they can stay if they use the house as a residence, but they'll be evicted if they open a business.

"It wouldn't matter if it's a beauty parlor; it's not zoned for that," Celse said.

He understands the neighbors' concerns, he said, and he doesn't want to be in the middle of the city's legal battle with dispensaries.

"If I lived next door, I wouldn't want it there either," he said.

Luce said whether cities can ban dispensaries hasn't been finally decided by the courts,.

"Whatever way this goes...obviously I will decide to comply," he said.

Bielman said residents are concerned about other dispensaries already operating in the area, but they are in more commercial zones and would have to be dealt with differently. She's happy with the way things have turned out and attributes it in part to email blasts.

"We're a united neighborhood and we're going to band together to stop things like this from happening," Bielman said.