Great American Restaurant
1250 South Main Street Salinas, California 93901
6-17-2024
Mr. Thomas Wiles
City of Salinas, Community Development Dept.
65 West Alisal Street
Salinas, CA 93901
re: Cannabis Dispensary relocation to the property at 1228 S. Main Street
Dear Mr. Wiles, Mayor Craig and Salinas City Council Members,
I am the Owner/Partner of the Elli’s Restaurant operation at 1250 S. Main Street. We have been watching the development of the proposed Cannabis Dispensary in the building next to us and attended the recent Planning Commission hearing at the Salinas Rotunda on June 6th.
We also went to visit the current location/operation to better understand possible issues this possible future neighbor might present to us and our operation. We learned many things.
Please understand that the current parking dilemma we face is an extreme problem for us ongoing. Clients of the medical building and other businesses in that parking lot area use a tremendous number of our spaces, and leave us with no available spaces for our own customer base. We have no idea how to stop this, and now have additional concerns with the impact this proposed business will create. This current problem is already costing us business volume in that people get frustrated and just drive away. They do not have the time or patience to wait for a space to eat at our establishment, and many have told us that hey no longer even try.
Upon visiting their current operation (which is smaller than the new intended use), we noted about 10 people working there on a Thursday, at 11am. The traffic in and out of the facility was ongoing and constant, with customers shuffling in and out to pick up product. The parking area they had there was full and hectic at that point. There was no security present outside the building that day. The manager there told us they typically have between 10 to 30 staff working on shifts, depending on the day. So how will this new location work out with the minimal spaces available, less 10-30 for employees on any given shift of a day? There’s no way the remaining spaces will suffice. Where will they look to park? Then every customer that goes in and out of the intended parking area will be forced to exit to the right on S. Main Street, and create a large amount of traffic across the already busy exit of everyone that uses the exit of our business, Pinnacle Bank, the medical building and others. This will be a complete nightmare for all of us, an extreme amount of additional congestion at tht bust intersection, a major pedestrian and public safety concern, and must be considered.
Then at the end of the June 6th meeting, the owners of the Dispensary met with us and told us that the front of the building that they did not intend to use would “definitely” again be rented to a furniture store eventually. This cannot be possible, as this would mean additional parking necessary, that does not exist at all.
Lastly, I am now finding out that the information that was used to create a Traffic/Parking Report for this companies proposal was extremely mis-leading, and completely inaccurate. It is shocking that this was allowed and not investigated properly. Something needs to be done to look into this further, and proper due diligence performed to ensure the publics safety as well as the total impact this company will create on this particular property and the surrounding area.
As I am traveling out of the country thru July 3rd, I will not be able to attend the upcoming meeting(s) on this project, but strongly urge all to reconsider this proposal, and if anything, look further into the ramifications of allowing this company to make this property their home. Then if allowed regardless of all these issues, it needs to be stated and understood that an additional use in the front of that building will not be allowed in the future.
I appreciate your time and attention to all of this, and hope the best decision will be made for the people and businesses of Salinas and the neighbors to the S. Main Street surrounding area.
Respectfully,
George Sammut
Elli’s Restaurant
Owner/Partner
13990 Sycamore Drive
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
(408)497-6011