• City Council Meeting September 2019

A very light agenda had only the adoption of a tobacco code amendment and the appointing of a new planning commissioner. 

Arguably the biggest news came before the meeting officially started 
The first order of business was to reconvene out of closed session, that came with a report from Wildomar city attorney Tom Jex regarding the LEAPS project which is set in Lake Elsinore.

"The city council unanimously gave direction to intervene in a pending administrative hearing before FERC regarding LEAPS."

I don't know what that will entail at this point, but we want to go on record that we are opposed to the project.

Being that this meeting fell on September 11th, the meeting began with a moment of silence and then the singing of our National Anthem, beautifully done Alexa Oliver.

We then had a presentation by our Wildomar Fire Battalion Chief, John Crater, reminding us of the devastation experienced during September 11, 2001.

The 2019 chamber of commerce award winners were recognized by Mayor Marsha Swanson. The photo montage is with images from the actual awards dinner.

• Citizen of the year: Todd Donohoe
• Deputy of the year: Officer Andrew McCracken
• Volunteer of the Year: Chrissy Rohlmeier
• Firefighter of the Year: Captain Matt Misenhimer

We were also introduced to our newest officer:
McGruff the Crime Dog

This was McGruff's first public appearance!
Top: Bridgette Moore, Dustin Nigg, Ben Benoit.
Bottom: Marsha Swanson, McGruff, Joseph Morabito.

2.1 Tobacco Code Amendment
This came with very little fanfare. What started back in May was finished at the September city council meeting. 

The extreme proximity to the elementary school is demonstrated in this image.

Though some in town either didn't care, or were upset, about the decision to block the opening of a smoke/vape shop that had sought to open within a stone's throw from Wildomar Elementary, the majority in town were heard, and the council acted to prevent it from coming to be.

Link to May 25, 2019 blog about the smoke shop

Link to May 29, 2019 blog regarding the smoke shop

The gist of the ordinance amendment is that any such new businesses will need to be at least 600 feet from a school, park or church. 

3.1 Planning Commission Appointment
Councilmember Dustin Nigg appointed Arrin Banks to the planning commission. She's lived in town, in The Farm more specifically, for three years and I've seen her attending most city meetings for at least the last two years. 

Truth be known, when I got elected I had hoped she would apply then... which is no slight to Eric Filar, I just didn't really know him at that time. ☺

The meeting doesn't start until about the 6 minute mark of the video.

•                •                •

The friendship of the overly friendly person is too often like a fire in the grate. Exceedingly bright to look at, but not reliable should you wish to keep warm on a really cold day.
– EG Marshall CBSRMT 1977

Wildomar Rap is nothing like a fire in the grate but can be friendly on occasion.

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.

• Smoke Shop Isn't Blowing Smoke

***UPDATE***

Pardon the cheesy headline, but I just got word that there is no stopping the smoke shop from opening across the street from Wildomar Elementary and it's the first thing that came to me as my fingers hit the keyboard.

If you don't know what this is about, please check the blog discussing the smoke shop that is looking to open within a stone's throw of Wildomar Elementary with this link.

City staff has spoken with the State Board of Equalization, who issues tobacco licenses, and staff was told that they do not have any distance requirements from schools or other sensitive uses.   

Staff then called the County Health Department and they also do not have distance requirements.  

Knock, knock... Who's there? Your neighbor the smoke shop guy.

The bottom line is that it is up to each local agency to adopt its own distance requirements….our current Wildomar city code does not have any such standard.

Just a hop, skip and a jump away.

Also, the applicant has told the city that he already has his state license and will be providing that with his next Tenant Improvement submittal to the planning department.

One question remains, will they be fixing that bad paint job or not? 

At this point, once the shop owner complies with the requirements outlined in Section 5.64 of the Wildomar Municipal Code and addresses plan check comments, the city will issue Tenant Improvement permits and this use will be permitted. 

Opinion Time:
For those that want to spend time talking about Wildomar not updating these codes before now, go right on ahead, I won't stop you. For me, talking about the horses that left the barn (then closing the barn door) has never been high on my list of things to do.

The wheels have already been put in motion to update the city codes where this type of business is concerned.

 

You may be saying, "I thought you didn't like wasting time talking about water under the bridge?" Why bother updating the codes regarding this now?

Good point, but let's look a little further down the road. 

There is a mostly empty strip mall right across Bundy Canyon from the High School (I've been corrected... there is a barber and a new taco shop that are getting ready to open). And though it seems as if the long term business plan over there is to keep most of that center empty, eventually those vacant units will get tenants. (I'm leaving the verbal jab in there, they earned it after all the years of empty units)

We want to be ahead of the issue, not finding ourselves in a similar situation that we face today, with an adult-centric business opening right next to a school.

Which leads me to a thought on commercial cannabis in Wildomar.

The state legislature is busy with AB 1356 which will remove most of the local control in municipalities that passed Prop 64 (Hello Wildomar - 52.8%).

The language in the bill has changed a couple of times, and it still may change before it gets voted on, but the gist of the bill wants there to be one retail cannabis licence for every six liquor licenses. 

Without counting on your fingers, what's your quick guess as to how many liquor licenses are currently held in Wildomar.

If you guessed more than thirty, you were right. 

That would suggest about 5 retail cannabis licenses be issued... but there is a alternate provision that asks for one licence for every 15,000 residents... or whichever is lower.

Wildomar has 36,000 residents, so depending on where numbers get rounded up, that's a minimum of two to three retail cannabis licenses that Sacramento wants Wildomar to have... if it passes, and Governor Newsom signs it. There are a lot of moving parts to this, but if we aren't anticipating them, we could easily get caught flat footed again.

This is a key reason for the city to write municipal codes dealing with commercial cannabis now, and not scramble after the fact, while dealing with some decree from Sacramento. 

If we don't restrict where such businesses can go, they'll be able to go wherever they want... like the new smoke shop. 

Correction: It was brought to my attention that Prop 64 does restrict distances from schools to a minimum of 600 feet. Still, the point stands as we currently have no restrictions on the books regarding this industry.

Language of AB 1356   link to full bill here

The bill would require the local jurisdiction to issue those licenses as otherwise required by this bill within a specified period of time if a local jurisdiction subject to the requirements of this bill does not submit a local ordinance or other local law regarding the lower amount of licenses to the electorate, or that local ordinance or other local law fails to receive more than 50% of the approval of the electorate voting on the issue. 

The bill would provide that these provisions are prohibited from being construed to require a local jurisdiction to authorize adult-use retail cannabis commercial activity. By imposing additional requirements on local jurisdictions the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

•                •                •

There are some experiences in life which should not be demanded twice from any man, and one of them is listening to the Brahms Requiem.
– George Bernard Shaw

Wildomar Rap pities those that have endured this blog more than once.

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.

• 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.

•                •                •

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.

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.