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SLO supervisors overturn approval of Marijuana dispensary 

County planning commission approved minor use permit in July

Medical-Cannabis1–San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors overturned a minor use permit for Ethnobotanica, a medical marijuana dispensary at 2122 Hutton Road in Nipomo, on Tuesday. If the appeal had been denied, it would have been the only brick and mortar medical marijuana dispensary on the Central Coast, although there are dozens of mobile dispensaries operating throughout the area.

The San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission approved the minor use permit on July 9 after the South County Advisory Council recommended denial. Nipomo resident James Bigelow then appealed the commission’s decision to the board of supervisors. The appeal included a petition signed by 39 people.

“The most important aspect of this recommended denial of the application is the concern for public safety,” the petition read. “The located involved is … just north of the Santa Barbara County line. Santa Barbara County has prohibited medical marijuana dispensaries in their county.”

The county board approved allowing dispensaries in the county under specific conditions: it cannot be in a downtown business area or within 1,000 feet of a school, library, playground, park or youth recreation area.

“The proposed location in Nipomo is an ideal location that falls within all of these conditions,” said Rebecca Larsen, Nipomo resident who lives near the dispensary’s proposed location. “It is located in one of the most sparsely populated areas in South County that is properly zoned with an existing structure conducive to providing a secure environment.”

The petition asserts that medical marijuana dispensaries have been the target of burglaries and robberies around California, including a number of violent offenses. In addition to requesting that the board reject the application for the dispensary, it also asks that the board ban all medical marijuana dispensaries in the county.

“As a representative member of the Nipomo faith-based community, I took am asking this proposal be denied,” Full Gospel Tabernacle of Nipomo Pastor Phillip Reyes Jr. wrote in a letter to the board. “Numerous South County adult and youth residents have shared with local clergy that their struggles with life, lack of employment and negative habitual behaviors are a result of marijuana use.”

After hours of questions and discussion, the board voted 3-2 to turn down the application for a medical marijuana dispensary in Nipomo. Supervisors Debbie Arnold, Lynn Compton and Frank Mecham voted against the dispensary and Supervisors Bruce Gibson and Adam hill voted in favor of it.

The supervisors voting to overturn the dispensary cited safety concerns as the reasoning behind their decision, as well as concerned raised from law enforcement personnel.

“Crime is what I am most concerned with,” SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said, adding that he’s not sure he can service the location as it is in the most southern part of the county.

County District Attorney Dan Dow said that it could be an issue because such places that have large amounts of marijuana and cash on-hand are often targeted.

Gibson and Hill did not agree. “I don’t see that this particular use would change the quality of life in that part of the county,” Gibson said.

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