Planned school site could derail approved Fresno cannabis shop. Could others be in jeopardy?

Just weeks after being awarded one of the city’s first retail cannabis licenses, Fresno Farms is already being told it will have to move, or face closure, because of its proximity to a planned school.

The dispensary was told last week that its location — an empty lot on Ventura Avenue in southeast Fresno — would be within 800 feet of Fresno Unified’s Francine and Murray Farber Educational Campus when it opens in 2023.

Fresno Farms’ license for 3849 E. Ventura Ave. is currently not in jeopardy and as it stands the location meets the requirements of the municipal code, since the school is not operating, says Sontaya Rose, the city’s director of communications.

That would change once the campus opens, scheduled for 2023.

Because Fresno’s retail cannabis licenses renew every year, the business would no longer meet city code, Rose says.

The business can apply to transfer the license to a new location, but only after the application receives final conditional use and cannabis permit approvals. It is currently under preliminary approval.

But getting final approval is a timely and expensive process that would require building a store front that would ultimately see little or no use, says Jessica Reuven, Fresno Farms co-owner and chief compliance officer of its parent company Yuma Way, which operates dispensaries in Colorado and Michigan.

“It just becomes a very challenging endeavor in an already challenging industry,” Reuven says.

“We actually don’t know what our plan is going to be.”

The company did vet the location for any issues and even received a letter from the city in December saying it was properly zoned. Because the school has yet to be built, it did not show up on any of the “buffer zone” maps provided by the city.

Fresno Farms knew there was an educational complex in the works, but was under the impression it would be a vocational school that would not fall under the buffer zone rule, Reuven says.

“The last thing our company ever wants to do is something that makes people uncomfortable,” she says.

“We are particularly motivated to make sure that cannabis doesn’t fall into the hands of minors.”

It’s one of the reasons the business was awarded a license to begin with, she says.

Five licenses were appealed, but not this one

Neither the mayor nor District Five Councilmember Luis Chavez appealed the license, presumably because it is not yet out of compliance with the buffer zone ordinance.

Five other cannabis licenses were appealed, including one that may be too close to another Fresno Unified school. Those appeals will be voted on during a special meeting Oct. 27.

In a message to The Bee, Chavez repeated the city’s position, saying Fresno Farms can proceed with the process because there are no students currently attending the planned school.

“However, once the school is operational, the city cannot renew the license,” he says.

The company still needs to go through the process to obtain a conditional use and a business permit, during which time “the community can weigh in and voice their concerns.”

Reuven says Fresno Farms “understands and supports the challenge of the situation.” The business would have sought another location had it known of the issue and would move now “in a heartbeat” given the opportunity, though she believes citizens may have to advocate on their behalf to make that happen before they’re forced to choose whether to continue moving forward with the current location.

“The city has the best of intention here,” she says.

“We’re hoping that everybody can find a simpler solution.”

Fresno Farms aside, the city’s requirement means that any future school site, even one built 10 or 15 years down the road, would supersede existing cannabis licenses and force a business to move or close, Rueven says.

That is problematic. She wonders if, theoretically, a competitor could fund a school with that specific purpose.

Typically, these kind of sensitive use licenses are grandfathered much like liquor licenses to protect against future developments, she says.

“To have that risk on your head at all times, it’s actually a very heavy burden to a business.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.