Marijuana foes gather signatures in Riverbank. Could city be forced to rethink plans?
Residents on Thursday delivered petitions to City Hall asking for a vote of the people to overturn recent City Council approval of a commercial marijuana dispensary on a major thoroughfare.
Another nearly identical petition would likewise boot a second pot shop from downtown, also recently embraced by the council.
"Riverbank should make up its mind as a community, rather than a handful of council members," said Art Hidalgo, an organizer of the grass roots drive.
Supporters gathered 1,162 signatures, mostly by going door-to-door in local neighborhoods. Stanislaus County election officials will spend the next couple of weeks verifying whether they represent registered Riverbank voters.
If enough are valid — about 1,000 are needed — the City Council would reconsider its December approval for Flavors to open at busy Oakdale and Patterson roads, on a stretch between Galaxy Theatres and McDonald's.
If council members don't change their minds about the Flavors approval, they would be forced to schedule a citywide vote known as a referendum. The same could happen with the Riverbank Cannabis Collective, approved in January in the former Riverbank Hotel at 6609 Third St. downtown, if petitioners gather enough signatures in the next couple of weeks.
Neither dispensary has opened while owners make building improvements at both sites.
The council has rejected strident pleas from many marijuana opponents at multiple meetings. At each, council members say they would prefer to regulate an industry approved by most California voters in Fall 2016, and receive tens of thousands of dollars each month in payments from the dispensaries.
The council repeatedly has reminded people that cannabis is here, like it or not, and has noted that other agencies also intend to regulate pot shops, including Stanislaus County, Modesto, Oakdale, Ceres, Patterson and Sonora.
But Turlock, Waterford, Hughson and Newman have done exactly what marijuana opponents in Riverbank ask, essentially banning weed from those cities. Turlock leaders a few weeks ago went a step further, officially rejecting three proposed dispensaries just outside their city limit but within a half-mile of Turlock's sphere of influence, an area designated for future growth. It's expected that county leaders will go along with Turlock's wishes and nix the three proposals.
Riverbank petitioners appear to have a potentially important political force in their corner: former Mayor Bill O'Brien, who also served 12 years as a county supervisor. He's the nephew of Mayor Richard O'Brien, but they don't see eye to eye on this issue.
Saying he would "not sit by silently any longer," Bill O'Brien sent a letter opposing the Patterson Road dispensary, which is almost kitty-corner to O'Brien's Market. He is a minority owner in the family business; his uncle, the current mayor, was an employee before retiring last year.
In his letter, Bill O'Brien questioned whether "the cash cow that Riverbank thinks is heading their way" will materialize. "If having a dispensary in our city is so important to you, please" put them in industrial zones, not high-profile and heavy-traffic commercial areas, he wrote.
That's what Modesto is doing. Its permitting process is going slower, however. Modesto has received six applications so far, but it will be a few months before any go to its city council for approval.
The Riverbank council three weeks ago put a six-month moratorium on additional dispensary applications, saying they wanted to see how the first two shops do before granting more.
Garth Stapley: 209-578-2390
This story was originally published February 15, 2018 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Marijuana foes gather signatures in Riverbank. Could city be forced to rethink plans?."