Vision Quest Ranch 400 River Rd. Salinas, CA 93908 (831)809-2919 [email protected]
Thomas Wiles 6/9/2024 City of Salinas, Community Development Dept. Page 1 of 4 65 West Alisal Street
Salinas, CA 93901
re: Continued Concerns regarding proposed "use" change for 1228 S. Main Street, Salinas
Dear Mr. Wiles, Mayor Craig and Salinas City Council Members, Please accept this second letter regarding additional concerns with the proposed Cannacruz Cannabis Dispensary relocation to the property at 1228 S. Main Street, previously a furniture store. Please let this letter be made matter of record and included in any studies and/or reports pertaining to this matter.
As a reminder, I am the owner of 1250 S. Main St., (the property directly adjacent to 1228 S. Main St.), currently home to Elli's Restaurant (my tenant). Unfortunately, I must agree with the Salinas Police Dept., the City of Salinas Planning Commission and the great majority of the community who testified in opposition to the approval of the proposed cannabis dispensary relocation to the 1228 S. Main Street. As you know, to approve this project, the Salinas City Council would need to dismiss the findings and concerns of the above city agencies, which I hope the City Council will not do. As there are no true solutions to the many concerns regarding this project, we sincerely hope the City Council will not reverse the decisions of those we employ to advise and govern such concerns.
Recently, the owners of Elli’s Restaurant and I visited the current Cannacruz Cannabis Dispensary location on Abbot Street in Salinas. This visit amplified our initial concerns to include:
- We did not see the alleged security in the parking area of their very busy parking lot. There were individuals inside their showroom wearing security shirts but one claimed to wear two hats as both security guard and store manager, leading us to question the training, credentials and validity of their security measures.
- The parking concern was both noticeable and hectic. First, we observed many employees working at one time (10+ that were visible, we did not have access to back areas…) that would obviously absorb approx.1/3 of the business’s available parking at the proposed new location (39 parking spaces) ~ or ~ unjustly burden neighboring businesses’ parking lots and neighborhoods. While on our visit, the manager told us that a typical employee workforce on any given day could be between 10-30 staff members at one time. There were approx. 20+ customers in the showroom with 6+ more in the parking area that day. Added to the average number of staff required to operate this business each day, it again becomes clear that there is a considerable lack of parking available in the proposed new location for such a business.
- The traffic we witnessed, arriving and leaving the business, was truthfully comparative to most “drive- through” businesses, made more complicated by requiring a customer to park and enter a showroom for approx. 7-10 minutes to receive their product. After witnessing this traffic along with the information presented by the Canncruz representatives at the Planning Commission hearing, we calculated the flow of traffic in and out of their business to be approximately 30-45 cars per hour, all of which would impede the S.
Main driveways of the many existing businesses neighboring the proposed new location. Our property would [email protected]
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Vision Quest Ranch 400 River Rd. Salinas, CA 93908 (831)809-2919 [email protected] be the first driveway impacted. To add this type of traffic to an already traffic-challenged / one way / multi- business street and intersection is beyond the scope of safety and reason, especially when considering the addition of a business that requires far more parking than the proposed location would afford it. These facts have been reiterated by the Salinas Police Dept. and Planning Commission and certainly don’t justify waiving the restrictions and protocols that are in place to address such concerns.
The particular nature of the dispensary business just happens to be one that generates an unusually large and busy amount of traffic and parking. The Cannacruz representatives spoke of a “traffic/parking study” that was done to address this matter but to date, we have neither received nor seen such a study. The study was not available at the public hearings, even upon the request of the City Attorney. We requested the study from the Cannacruz representatives but have yet to receive it.
Parking was and continues to be one of our biggest concerns. Along with the parking which will be predominantly taken the Cannacruz staffing on any given day, we have little doubt that Cannacruz customers attempting to avoid the minimal and crowded parking dilemma at the proposed new location will in fact, park in the Ellis’ and/or Taqueria/Pharmacy parking areas and walk around those businesses to get to the Dispensary.
ALL these businesses are already dealing with extreme parking challenges. Ellis’s parking spaces are already being wrongfully used by the clients frequenting the medical businesses across from/behind Ellis. We’ve yet to solve this problem. Our attempts to post signage restricting such parking have proven to be absolutely useless and unenforceable. Alternative/legal solutions are being explored currently to address this existing problem.
Thus far, we have no doubt that the solutions offered by the Cannacruz owners to address what will be yet additional parking concerns created by their project will will be just as ineffective and unenforceable. Those include:
• A Fence: The Cannacruz owner(s) testified at the Planning Commission hearing to install a fence (with NO gates) surrounding the proposed Cannacruz parking lot. This fence will require those parking in the Ellis’ parking lot to walk around the Ellis building to get to the dispensary, which we feel they WILL do to avoid the crowded and/or unavailable parking at the proposed location. It will further exasperate an existing problem as well as creating an unwarranted amount of foot traffic around the front door and landscaping of Ellis. The only driveway/entrance to enter/exit the proposed location from South Main Street is very narrow and easy to miss. After doing so, the dispensary customers will have three additional options before having to go to great efforts to make a U-turn on S. Main Street or circle back around on Blanco/Padre/Nessen Roads. Those options include entering the Ellis’ entrances/driveways from S. Main, Boronda and Padre. Again, they will simply park in the Ellis’ and/or Pinnacle Bank parking area and walk to the dispensary. Another alternative would be for them to park in the STAR Center parking lot and cross a very busy street/intersection on foot to get to the proposed dispensary location. This would obviously create a huge health and safety concern as well as a parking and traffic problem for the businesses in Star Center. Due to the average length of time a dispensary customer spends in the store, this foot traffic could be extremely busy, crossing S. Main Street with on-coming traffic. It should also be noted that we have yet to see a plan describing the proposed/promised fence (height/materials/location). A minimal fence would be useless and very worth circumnavigating for those who park in the Ellis parking lot to avoid the lack of parking in the proposed location. We fail to see how anything short of an 8ft. non- climbable fence or wall would be effective. Further, Security will have no authority whatsoever to prevent those choosing to climb over such an obstacle!
• Security: We do not feel that the proposed exterior security that the Cannacruz owner(s) testified to having at the Planning Commission hearing, will be effective or enforceable. Security guards seeing customers enter the property from South Main St. on foot WILL NOT be able to ascertain where they Vision Quest Ranch 400 River Rd. Salinas, CA 93908 (831)809-2919 [email protected] parked and/or make them park elsewhere if they are parked in a neighboring businesses’ parking lot.
Security attempts to intercept anyone climbing a fence or wall could very well stimulate an altercation.
At the Planning Commission hearings on both April 3rd and June 5th, 2024, The Cannacruz representatives testified to there being absolutely “no signage or visual reference to a cannabis dispensary that would be visible from S. Main Street.” Although we question the validity of this statement, we feel this will further contribute to the traffic concerns as people continue to circle the neighborhood, Ellies parking lot, Pinnacle Bank parking lot, etc… and/or make U-turns at S. Main St. and Blanco when attempting to locate this business. (See satellite image below.)
Originally, the Cannacruz representatives applied to the Planning Commission to allow a second business/use in the front of the proposed building which would have created a two-tenant shopping center. It would have required the Commission to waive parking requirements for such (60+ spaces). This would obviously create even more traffic and require even more parking. To our knowledge, that request was denied by the Planning Commission. Upon appealing that decision, the Cannacruz owners testified that they would occupy the rear of the building only and leave the front of the building vacant; however, we remain concerned that ultimately, that hope for a second tenant will become a reality should they receive approval to put the dispensary in first. We believe the Cannacruz tenants will complain of hardship in the future due to a substantial lease obligation with a large empty remaining space in the front portion of that building. Should the city approve a second tenant in the future, again possibly waiving all traffic/parking concerns to do so, the negative impact on the neighboring properties as well as the documented health and safety concerns would be amplified greatly.
As you are no doubt aware and as was well documented at the Planning Commission hearings, the overwhelming response from the very community that resides around the proposed location remains in extreme opposition to this project. The Salinas Police Department testified to remaining in opposition to this project for reasons of traffic, health-safety, parking, security and more. Many (if not all) of the businesses surrounding the proposed location have voiced their opposition, defining the negative impact this specific-proposed business would have on their existing businesses. All these ingredients beg for the city to uphold the police department’s recommendation and the planning commission’s decision for such a project to be denied in this particular location.
Although I fully recognize the value the additional tax revenue that any business brings to the city, such factors should never out-weight the obvious health-safety concerns or the tremendous negative impact a proposed project might have on the community and/or existing businesses that are already struggling to navigate today’s astringent California business climate. The very traffic, health and safety concerns that were cited when our city’s planning commission and police dept. reviewed and opposed this project should not be dismissed or ignored, for any reason(s). These concerns are the very reason we have and support these agencies. The city should not absorb the possible liability of a vehicle or pedestrian injury accident for having waived the very restrictions and professional recommendations aimed at preventing such in this location. They should also not burden existing-struggling businesses with problems there are no physical and/or viable solutions to. We ask that the city uphold the Planning Commission and Police Dept. recommendations and deny the relocation of this dispensary to this location.
Respectfully,
Charlie Sammut
Vision Quest Ranch 400 River Rd. Salinas, CA 93908 (831)809-2919 [email protected]
Minimal Parking currently
available to Ellis Customers
Minimal Parking that will be available
to proposed Cannabis customers in
addition to 10-30 employees daily. (39
spaces) at 1228 S. Main Street.
Narrow and Only Entrance/Exit to Proposed
location for approx. 30-45 cars per hour.
Ellis S. Main St. Entrance/Exit
to Ellis parking…
STAR Center Parking
Ellis
1228 S. Main
Foot path from Ellis’ parking
area to proposed dispensary.
Course(s) of travel people will
have to travel if they miss the
narrow entrance to the
proposed location.