LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Thursday, the Lake County Planning Commission, meeting for the first time since an urgency ordinance instituted new rules for water reporting on projects, put off considering a cannabis project due to the new requirements but gave the go-ahead for the first Northshore dispensary to be approved under the county’s 2019 cannabis zoning rules.
The Thursday meeting was the first time the commission has met since the Board of Supervisors approved a 45-day urgency ordinance at its July 27 meeting to require hydrology reports for all projects.
That action had been, in part, spurred by repeated requests from the planning commission for guidance on projects, particularly as the drought has worsened.
Due to the additional reporting requirements, Planner Victor Fernandez asked for — and received — commission approval to continue a hearing for a major use permit for RMI Venture/Jerusalem Grade Farms, located at 22644 Jerusalem Grade Road in Middletown.
The meeting also was the first for new commissioner, Maile Field. Field’s appointment by District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 3. Field succeeds Lance Williams, who Pyska had appointed in January.
In her first vote as a commissioner, Field was the lone dissenter on the only other agenda item, Paul Bernacchio’s application for a retail cannabis shop in the former Driftwood Lounge at 6914 Frontage Road in Lucerne.
Bernacchio moved to Lake County from the Bay Area in 2015 and today is co-vice president of the Lake County Cannabis Alliance. He was lauded by other members of the local cannabis industry as professional, ethical and firm on standards.
He told Lake County News in a Thursday afternoon interview that his dispensary project is the second one that has gone through the county’s permit process; the first was one in Lower Lake that has not yet opened. There are others — including one on a local rancheria — that have not gone through the same process as he has.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said there are several more queued up to go through the county approval process.
Bernacchio’s new dispensary is the first on the Northshore to be approved under rules the county established for the facilities — allowed under C1 and C2 commercial zoning — in 2019.
That was a decade after the Board of Supervisors had begun taking action to regulate — and eventually to stop — dispensaries after numerous such establishments had begun opening around Lake County in the spring of 2009, at a time when the county’s zoning ordinance didn’t specifically allow for them.
Today, the city of Clearlake has three dispensaries while rules adopted in the city of Lakeport in early 2018 only allow for delivery, not storefronts.
Bernacchio said he also has licenses for two other cannabis projects, one for mixed light cultivation and one for a nursery. His goal is to supply the Lucerne dispensary and showcase Lake County-grown cannabis.
Assistant Planner Michael Taylor went over the details of the project, which includes the existing 1,783-square-foot building which will have 12 parking spaces, one Americans with Disabilities Act compliant parking space and down-casting lights that are dark skies compliant.
Taylor said staff reviewed the project for concurrence with the Lake County General Plan, Shoreline Communities Area Pla and the county’s Zoning Ordinance, determining it to be consistent with those plans.
He said retail sales of cannabis is a permitted use in “C1” — local commercial district — upon issuance of a use permit.
The project plan anticipates 10 customers daily with 35 deliveries weekly, according to the staff report.
Bernacchio said there will be three to five store employees, including one manager, plus two security guards who will keep a close eye on the parking lot. The building’s yard will be fenced.
In 2019, Bernacchio submitted the permit for the project, and the county told him at that point it would take about two years to get through the approval process.
“We really are looking forward to working with the neighbors and serving the county,” said Bernacchio, who has owned the building for five years.
However, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing during the hearing to convert the former bar — which in its last years had been the scene of violence and other criminal activity — into a new business, as several neighbors would argue against it.
That would surprise Bernacchio. “They know what this place used to be and they can’t see what we’re trying to make it.”
Neighbors raise concerns; cannabis entrepreneurs offer support
No letters opposing the project were included in the commission packet and out of the five eComments submitted online, only one — containing a scanned letter from neighbor Leilani Schwartz — raised objections.
Schwartz was among six neighbors who came to the hearing to tell the commission that they opposed the project.
Bernacchio told Lake County News that both he and his wife were surprised by the neighbors’ objections, noting the people who showed up were not among those who they believed opposed the project. “I was caught off guard a little bit.”
Neighbors, including Kevin Waycik and Lani Urquiza, both members of the Lucerne Town Hall board, complained that it wasn’t the right project for the area.
Waycik said Bernacchio should have come to the neighbors and Urquiza said he should have come to the town hall. Bernacchio would state later in the meeting that he and Waycik were in regular communication — they speak and exchange texts often — and as for the town hall, he told Lake County News that he had been in regular contact with two other town hall members about the project.
Others, like Schwartz, spoke of potential traffic creating danger for children, bicyclists and walkers, and impacts on the nearby residential community. Additional concerns related to there being any businesses at all nearby, with some community members arguing the entire area should be converted to residential.
When the issue of location was brought up, District 1 Commissioner John Hess pointed out that the project is zoned appropriately for commercial use.
Several members of the county’s cannabis industry offered a counterbalance to those complaints, giving their perspective on the project’s merits and importance.
They included Natasha Sokoloski, co-founder of D&M Compassion Center in Clearlake, who has been a colleague of Bernacchio for a few years; Erin McCarrick, a cannabis business owner who also is a member of the Clearlake Planning Commission; Damien Ramirez of Lake County Grown; and farmer and Lake County Cannabis Alliance President Jennifer Smith.
McCarrick said Bernacchio has put together a good proposal, and in response to safety concerns, she said the city of Clearlake has seen a decrease in the number of cannabis-related issues because it has a commitment to security and allowing the legal cannabis industry to survive.
Ramirez said he’s worked closely with Bernacchio, who he called an honest and respectful business owner. The project is well planned and can bring in jobs, he said.
While he understands the concerns of citizens, Ramirez said they often see illegal market issues get conflated with the legal industry. “They don’t run parallel. These are completely different worlds.”
Ramirez added, “This project should be judged on its own merits and its own plans and what it abides by as far as the ordinance and the regulations go for this specific business.”
Smith said Bernacchio’s is involved in making sure industry members who are part of the cannabis alliance adhere to compliance rules, adding he is going to run a legitimate, first-class and tightly run operation.
New commissioner has compatibility concerns
During the commission’s discussion, Field — quoting from the general plan — said projects that are compatible with surrounding uses should be promoted. In this case, she saw conflicts. “How would you propose to address those and mitigate them?” she asked.
Bernacchio explained that he had spent a lot of time looking for the right location, and found it in the former bar. Many of the other properties he looked at had limitations due to distances from schools, rehabilitation or senior centers.
Noting that he wouldn’t have to go before the commission to reopen it as a bar, Bernacchio said he had spent a lot of money removing dumped cars — often after getting calls from Waycik — and that he wants to be a good member of the community.
“I want to be their neighbor. I may not live there but I own a building there, and I’m interested in the area,” said Bernacchio, who believes that in five years they will be happy he’s there.
The majority of the commissioners had no issues, believing the zoning was proper and that Bernacchio’s plans would actually address security concerns community members voiced.
Hess also referred to a University of California, Davis study released in January that found that counties with more cannabis dispensary storefronts show reduced opioid deaths as a result of providing alternative pain management methods.
Field, however, said that due to the community comments, she didn’t think the project was compatible and she wouldn’t support it.
District 2 Commissioner Everardo Chavez Perez offered two separate motions — to find the project exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act and to approve a major use permit — with Hess seconding both motions.
Both votes were 3-1, with Field voting no each time. District 3 Commissioner Batsulwin Brown, in whose district the new dispensary will be located, was absent.
Following the meeting, Bernacchio told Lake County News that he’s aiming to open in December or January, once renovation and construction is completed and his state license is completed. “Usually, the state makes you get your local authorization first.”
His license covers both retail and delivery, and deliveries will start first.
Bernacchio said he has agreed to be at the Lucerne Town Hall meeting on Aug. 20 to discuss the project further with community members who have questions.
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Lake County Planning Commission approves new cannabis dispensary project in Lucerne
- Elizabeth Larson
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