• Goodbye Day Spa, Hello Smoke Shop???

Perhaps you've noticed some activity over at the old Jolie Day Spa building. It was sad to see a long time business like Jolie move to another city, but that is life.

Jolie Day Spa was a longtime fixture in Wildomar up until just a couple of months ago.

Without much hesitation between tenants the building was getting ready for another business... we were all wondering what was going to come next. 

Few things are as welcoming as bars in the windows of an establishment. [Sarcasm]

Then rumors that it was going to be a smoke shop started to swirl about on social media, but that seemed too absurd to believe... and then they put up a banner removing all doubt as to their intentions.

I've never been a fan of putting the cart before the horse.

It caused quite a bit of concern among a lot of people in Wildomar, being that it is just a stone's throw from Wildomar Elementary School.

These two places are so close to each other that a string and two soup cans would suffice as a telephone. 
Do kids of today even know that trick? But I digress.

There is room for all types of legal businesses in Wildomar, but common sense (and city ordinances) should dictate where they can and cannot go.

The only apparent buffer between the two is the tamale shop on the corner.

I'm not a patron of such businesses, but still I can think of two such that are operating in Wildomar at the moment... neither is just a two minute walk from an elementary school.

Google suggests that these two places are just 390 feet apart, and that's if you count the office of the school, not just the parking lot where the rest of us consider the school to start.

I asked for some official information on this smoke shop and here is what I learned

This tobacco retailer does not have a business registration approval from the city, but they have submitted a request for tenant improvements which is currently being reviewed.  A business registration is needed.

Tobacco retailers are allowed in the commercial zones, however, there are special application and permitting requirements outlined in Chapter 5.64 of the muni-code that the retailer must comply with which he has not begun. The city will not issue any tenant improvement permits, or allow them to open up until the retailer complies with all aspects of chapter 5.64.

Link to Wildomar Municipal Code

This code section also requires the proprietor to provide the city proof that he is a “state licensed tobacco retailer” from the State Board of Equalization.   It's not known at this time if the proprietor has that certificate from the state.  

Early next week the city will be contacting the state directly to see if the proprietor has received a certificate, and to find out if there are special distance separation requirements from sensitive uses (like schools, etc.)....something that we are concerned with.

At this point, Wildomar is still operating under the county ordinances that were inherited when we became a city in 2008. As of today there are no specific requirements discussing distances from sensitive uses (schools, churches, parks, neighborhoods). 

However, at the last city council meeting, Councilmember Ben Benoit asked that such ordinances be updated (as seen in the video below).

I'll be updating the community as new information becomes available. Not always will I create a formal blog for such updates. To get such updates, be sure to follow the facebook version of Wildomar Rap at this link.

The update to this story can be found at this link.

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There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
– Frank Zappa

Wildomar Rap's shelf life is about an eyelash width more than a gross of months in dog years.

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