A 4,800-square-foot marijuana dispensary is proposed for this location in a strip mall on Sahara Avenue at Fort Apache Road.
Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 | 2 a.m.
Las Vegas City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman speaks during a town hall meeting at the Sahara West Library in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019.
Las Vegas Councilwoman Victoria Seaman is encouraging residents to attend Wednesday’s city council meeting to speak out against a proposed marijuana dispensary in her ward, despite the Las Vegas Planning Commission having approved it and the Planning Department supporting it.
The proposed 4,800-square-foot dispensary would be located in a commercially zoned strip mall at the corner of Fort Apache Road and Sahara Avenue. It would be the first dispensary in Ward 2.
More than 200 residents have raised concerns about the facility in emails and public comments made at two neighborhood meetings late last year, Seaman said. Those opposed to a dispensary — about 85% of those who have submitted comments, Seaman said — worry it would increase crime, homelessness, traffic and intoxicated driving and negatively impact children.
Seaman asked applicant Nevada CRT LLC to withdraw its request for a special-use permit, but the company refused.
“I encourage all of you in Ward 2 to show up and voice your concerns and invite your friends and neighbors to address the other members on the council,” she wrote to constituents via her email list Monday.
The council is expected to vote on the special-use permit Wednesday. The Planning Commission approved the permit on Dec. 10 by a 4-1-1 vote. One commissioner was absent, while Ward 2 Commissioner Sigal Chattah opposed.
The issue has drawn attention to the location of marijuana dispensaries in Las Vegas, which are clustered in older, centrally located and lower-income areas of the city, according to a map provided by the city.
Although opponents say the proposed dispensary is incompatible with the neighborhood, Nevada CRT has complied with distance and zoning requirements. The dispensary would not be located too close to protected uses such as schools and places of worship, and the owners have agreed to provide 24/7 security, planning documents state.
“We have a right to develop this. It’s a right by law,” said Matthew McClure, general manager of the would-be dispensary operator Cultivate, which already has a dispensary on Spring Mountain Road.
There is no evidence to support residents’ claims that marijuana dispensaries increase crime, homelessness and public intoxication, McClure said. Furthermore, opponents represent a vocal minority of people in the mostly affluent neighborhood surrounding the location in question, he said.
“It’s a very small group that is agitated by this, and they’re making their voices well-known,” said McClure, adding that he lives in the neighborhood himself.
Ward 4 Planning Commissioner Donna Toussaint agreed that the resistance has been overstated, saying at the Dec. 10 planning commission meeting that many neighbors have sent her emails and text messages in support of the proposal. They have been “afraid” to publicly speak in favor of it, Toussaint said.
In voting to approve the special-use permit last month, Toussaint, who said she used to live near the proposed location, described it as an appropriate spot for a dispensary. It would be unfair to allow dispensaries in certain neighborhoods and not in others under the same conditions, she added.
“We cannot vote to approve marijuana dispensaries in Wards 1, 3 and 5, and say, ‘OK, Ward 2? No, we can’t do that,’” Toussaint said.
Although Seaman does not support a dispensary in this location, she is willing to work with the applicants to find a new site in Ward 2. This location is too close to a school and a movie theater and is a popular spot “where children congregate,” she said. Two other cannabis companies that tried to open dispensaries there withdrew their applications in response to those concerns, Seaman added.
The problem is that there are few locations that meet the distance requirements for dispensaries in the city, let alone in Ward 2, according to McClure. In addition to being no less than 1,000 feet from schools and 300 feet from churches, parks and other sensitive uses, dispensaries cannot be located within 1,500 feet of gaming establishments.
“It’s upsetting, to say the least, to see how the councilwoman has treated the issue. She’s claimed to be pro-business ... but she’s done everything but,” McClure said.
Seaman denied that claim, calling herself staunchly pro-business. She hopes the applicants will consider withdrawing prior to Wednesday’s meeting.
“When you won’t even look at how the neighbors are reacting to it, it’s disheartening,” she said.
