The Fresno Bee
Doubts a few hashish firm's historical past in different states, together with a quotation in Colorado for promoting to a minor and a lawsuit alleging labor regulation violations, prompted the Fresno Metropolis Council to reject unanimously authorized its allow for a retail dispensary in southeast Fresno. Colorado-based Yuma Means Hashish Co. already received metropolis Planning Fee approval in March for its proposed Fresno Farms weed retailer on the northeast nook of Cesar Chavez Boulevard, previously Kings Canyon Highway, and Jackson Avenue, throughout Fresno Road. Honest. The constructing is an previous Mexican restaurant. However Metropolis Councilman Luis Chavez, whose district consists of the placement, appealed that call and led the hassle Thursday to overturn the approval of a conditional use allow for the dispensary. Yuma Means has already acquired a retail hashish license from the state Division of Hashish Management, however native cities and counties have the ultimate say because of native zoning and allowing necessities. Yuma Means had initially utilized for a web site about six blocks west, on Cesar Chavez Boulevard between Eighth and Ninth streets — a web site immediately throughout the road from the Fresno Unified Faculty District's future Farber Training Campus. “The one concern I've all the time had has been the placement and ensuring it's not a detriment to the encompassing neighborhood (and) the encompassing companies,” Chavez mentioned. Yuma Means operates 16 dispensaries in 5 states, together with 10 in Colorado. Their lone store in California is in Oxnard, Ventura County. Earlier this yr, Chavez was vital of the corporate for choosing its first web site with out understanding that it was throughout the road from a college that was at the moment not but below development. “So that they determined once more to get a location that, in my opinion, is near quite a lot of delicate locations that I don't consider is the proper place for it,” he mentioned. The brand new location is a few quarter mile southeast of Roosevelt Excessive Faculty. Metropolis codes prohibit hashish companies from working inside 800 toes of any faculty serving kids in grades preschool by means of highschool. Final fall, Chavez challenged Yuma Means CEO Margarita Tsalyuk and different companions, asking twice if any of the corporate's shops had been cited or fined for promoting hashish merchandise to minors. The representatives mentioned no, however admitted they have been improper after Chavez supplied data that one of many Colorado shops had run afoul of the regulation prohibiting gross sales to minors. In California, authorized marijuana and hashish merchandise can solely be offered to individuals 21 years of age or older, or 18 or older for individuals with a medical marijuana card. Council member Tyler Maxwell mentioned he was upset after studying Yuma Means was being sued for allegedly denying staff their obligatory break intervals; Chavez mentioned he was additionally involved by the method. The mix of things that embody the sale of minors, the collection of the positioning and the trigger “exhibits a narrative of the those who now we have reached in our metropolis,” mentioned Chavez. Jessica Reuven, Yuma Means's chief compliance officer, informed board members through Zoom that the corporate is contesting the case, which she mentioned was filed by “a disgruntled worker.” “I hope you guys will go together with 'harmless till confirmed responsible,'” he mentioned. The corporate offered town with petitions of help signed by greater than 100 individuals, in addition to a number of letters supporting Yuma Means's efforts. However the metropolis additionally acquired letters of opposition from close by residents and companies.Jose Nino, who operates the Furnishings and Mattress Superstore subsequent to the Yuma Means location, addressed the council Thursday representing about three dozen different companies alongside Cesar Chavez Boulevard. In a letter to the board, Nino wrote that “having a dispensary near the enterprise will solely have a unfavourable influence on my prospects and put my enterprise and surrounding companies vulnerable to going out of enterprise.” “A dispensary will solely promote decay and vagrancy in an already weak space,” Tsalyuk informed The Fresno Bee by cellphone Thursday afternoon. “We did all the pieces.” they requested,” he mentioned. “We've dotted all of the 'i's' and crossed all of the 't's. … We've even provided to be closed” in the course of the Massive Fresno Honest, and a further situation imposed by the Planning Fee referred to as for offering extra armed safety within the tent in the course of the truthful and the annual Hmong New Yr celebration on the fairgrounds. As she and her colleagues digested the council's vote, Tsalyuk mentioned “all choices are on the desk,” together with potential authorized motion in opposition to town. “I believed I had an settlement with town, that we made a contract with town of Fresno,” he mentioned. The corporate can also think about on the lookout for one other web site in southeast Fresno, however is anxious that the identical issues can be raised once more to problem. The council's vote “could be very slim, very unhappy,” Tsalyuk mentioned, including that the council is “doing town a disservice” by rejecting the allow request. Fresno at present has 13 state-licensed dispensaries working within the metropolis — a greater than six-fold improve from a yr in the past when there have been solely two hashish sellers.
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