Reminder, Wildomar's 17th birthday celebration is happening on Saturday, July 26th at Marna O'Brien Park. Put it on your calendar now!
TOP NEWS FROM THE MEETING
Meeting Recap
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| Back row, L-R: Mayor Protem Carlos Marquez, Councilwoman Bridgette Moore, Councilman Joseph Morabito. Front: Mayor Ashley DePhillippo and Captain James Rayls. |
Item 1.9 Add One Additional Motor Deputy
This isn't as easy as going down to Pie Nation and ordering a round of Nation Sticks™. It takes many months to have a motorcycle delivered, and as long, or longer, to have a trained motor officer assigned (after all, they don't grow on trees).
Soon enough, we'll have two guys chasing down the road demons in town... don't be one of them.
Item 1.10 Marna O'Brien Park Rubberized Play Surface
This feels like it's been a long time coming. With the impediments neutralized, it's slated to be installed by the middle of September.
Item 2.1 Development Code Amendment (Cannabis)
Let me go straight to the bottom line and then fill in a couple of details from my point of view.
The bottom line is that there will be no practical changes.
No one has ever approached the planning department or the economic development department with even the slightest hint in wanting to cultivate, manufacture, distribute, or have a testing laboratory in Wildomar.
Mind you, this is one of those "if you're for it, then vote no" moments where Yes Means No.
We had six people who spoke on the item. Four in favor of changing the code (restricting certain commercial cannabis businesses), and two were against the change.
Remember, the matter at hand was ONLY whether to keep the codes the way they were, or to restrict future business opportunities, nothing else.
Still, the comments went back to whether or not cannabis should be used at all, especially recreationally.
If I were just Joe Blogger I'd happily post the back and forth discussion in detail, but I don't won't my colleagues to feel any pinch by highlighting our disagreements.
Especially since this is, in my estimation, a big nothing burger meant to do little more than close a barn door after we granted permission to people to take as many horses as they'd like.
If this topic interests you, I invite you to watch the video. I'll add a link at the bottom.
I will leave a transcription of my initial comments below. As I was rewatching the video, I saw how much gesturing I was doing... so I made a short video.
Summary of initial comments by Joseph Morabito on Item 2.1
First, I want to appreciate the emails I got and the various speakers, Maribel, Gianni, Gina, Mari, John, Jessica, thank you for coming out and expressing your thoughts here.
Now, remember, this is just about changing some codes. It's not about whether it's a good thing or not, or medical versus recreation. Those are fair concerns, but that's not what tonight is about anyway.
California legalized cannabis use back in 2016. That was Prop 64, I believe. Whether it's medical or recreational, this is the United States, and we have a lot of liberties here.
So, whether you want to think it should only be a medicine, you're probably right. But if somebody else wants to think, well, "That's how I'm going to ease the tension at the end of the day", well, they're also right.
I've never used it. I'm not interested. I would suggest "don't use it", but that's me. That's my opinion for me.
And again, when it comes to changing the existing codes, I thought about this a little bit, and I would need a reason why, other than "I want to".
Certainly not to further ban, especially because there has not been any inquiry about these other commercial uses.
Some person mentioned whether there's also 'never been a surf shop here or a ski shop [in Wildomar]'.
Okay, well, we don't need to go out of our way to ban those. And I'm assuming that we have strict guidelines in California that already regulate [cannabis] heavily.
I can't imagine what it would take (amount of money) for somebody (non-retail cannabis business) to come into Wildomar.
The real estate here is expensive, and to get a building built, it would be pretty Herculean of them to get past all that and want to [proceed here] (compared to places with lower costs).
I'm not aware of any additional dangers based on the existing retail shops.
Now, something that might be a danger is some of the places that sell alcohol. They're open all night, some of them, or at least past 10 o'clock. And it can get kind of sketchy there. They don't have any security.
Under today's codes, the cannabis retailers have guards, lots of cameras, lights, everything. In fact, the retail centers where they are are safer because of that.
As far as putting something on the ballot, I want to put you on the spot, City Clerk Jeanet Morales.
How much would a special election probably cost?
Or, [how much is saved when a City Council seat election is cancelled due to there only being one qualified candidate]?
We save around $16,000 on that one.
So if it's citywide, it's many thousands of dollars, probably over $50,000 if not even more. So that is one of the things that you do, elect city council members to make these kinds of decisions.
But I respect the thought of putting it on the ballot, but in a representative democracy, we are your representatives and pretty much make those votes.
I've noticed that since [cannabis] has become legal in many of the states, that now we're starting to see various reports of, "Look, it's not necessarily any better to smoke that than tobacco for your lungs."
But again, that's a personal decision that people make. So, anyway, I am not in favor of eliminating any potential future businesses. I would appreciate it if you have a reason behind why you want to change it.
It's well worth your time watching the video of this item. There were a lot of thoughts and opinions shared.
I just didn't see the justification of the changes, but that's ok, the majority makes the decision, and then we move on to the next item.
I did suggest an alternate motion where we'd increase the setbacks to 600 feet, but not further restrict future business options, but it died for lack of a second.
We don't hold grudges because of how a vote goes.
Wildomar Rap opinion time
My favorite thing in the whole wide world (a demonstrable overstatement) is when someone brings up a discredited survey from 2018 (before I was elected to the city council) as the basis of their actions.
I'll repost what I published in November 2019.
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A survey done nearly two years ago was brought up during a public comment.
During her public comment, Gina Castanon mentioned that the survey that has been used as the primary reason to keep commercial cannabis banned was, "flawed, in my opinion".
Shortly thereafter, the same survey was used as a key reasoning point for opposing the regulation of cannabis in Wildomar during council discussion.
Opinion Time
The survey was done to see if Measure AA would pass or not (the sales tax increase that was approved by a vote of the people in 2018).
The survey came back with the claims that AA would get 68% of the vote, but in reality, it only got 58% of the vote. Those 10 percentage points equate to being off the mark by 17%. That is a staggering miscalculation in my view.
The same survey asked a handful of questions, to less than one thousand registered Wildomar voters. It came back with 55% saying they were opposed to any commercial cannabis businesses in the city.
If the first part of the survey (about taxes) was wrong by 17%, then can't we assume that the second part was also wrong to one degree or another?
If it wasn't off by the same 17%, how about a third of that... 5%. Which makes the survey an even split.
That said, since when are major issues decided by a survey of less than 10% of the voters?
Still more arguments against the flawed survey
It only asked registered voters their opinion, not the residents that choose not to register to vote for one reason or another. There are many people that choose NOT to register based on their religious beliefs.
Aren't their opinions important on matters that don't get settled at the ballot box? I sure think so.
How about longtime permanent residents? I won't name any, but for example, before my wife took the oath of citizenship back in 2007, she could not register to vote.
There was no outreach made to those that cannot register to vote, but are every bit as much a part of our community as the registered voters.
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Those were a lot of words for something that won't be moving the needle one single solitary iota... and iotas are pretty small.
Item 3.3 Metal Shipping Containers
In brief, the current codes only allow shipping containers on properties that are five acres or larger. Wildomar has many, many properties that are under five acres with a shipping container on it.
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Do you know where this (these) shipping containers are in town?
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The question is/was, do we change the code that was originally written by Riverside County and tailor it to something more suitable to Wildomar, or leave it as is?
Leaving it as is would put very many people into a situation where they'd have to remove their shipping containers.
Remember, the claim that "I've had my container for many years before Wildomar became a city" doesn't hold water because these containers were NEVER legal even under county rules.
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The city council and planning commission want to update the code. Any changes are still in the discovery/discussion stage.
If you have thoughts that you'd like heard, please email them to me (jmorabito@wildomar.gov) and I'll get them to the planning department for further discussion.
For me, I suggested that if there are properties under 1 acre that have a shipping container on them, to either grant a temporary amnesty that expires when the property changes hands, or, if possible, write stricter requirements they'd have to meet.
I anticipate this matter coming back before the end of the year.
Link to agenda and video. Just look for the item you want to watch and click it.
https://cityofwildomar.granicus.com/player/clip/1234?view_id=1&redirect=true
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