Richard Smith
Independent Newsmedia

Following an multi-layered presentation, resident comments and a flurry of opinions, Surprise Planning and Zoning commissioners Dennis Bash, Ken Chapman, Eric Cultum and Mitchell Rosenbaum voted to deny a conditional use permit for a medical marijuana dispensary proposed for the same shopping center as AMC Theaters and Upton Alley.

And, while all four said they support the concept of medical marijuana and the protocols in place since Proposition 203 passed in 2010 in Arizona, all four who voted against the permit for Health for Life at Surprise Pointe cited one overriding factor. It would be in the same shopping center as AMC and Uptown Alley, about 800 away from the city’s main family entertainment destination and closer to a private therapy service for children.

“I think the intent of the (city’s) ordinance (which includes distances dispensaries must be from schools, parks, homes and other facilities) is to protect children at gathering places,” said Mr. Chapman, the committee’s chairman. “While I don’t want to appear to be an alarmist, I also would like to be a realist.”

Commissioners Gisele Norberg and Dennis Smith voted against Mr. Bash’s motion denying the permit. Both said they too were conflicted about the decision. Vice chairman Matthew Keating was absent.

Ms. Norberg asked questions about hours of operation, whether signs advertising the business would be approved and and whether buffers for designated businesses, residential, school and day care facilities still apply if those businesses chose to come in after a dispensary — they do not.

While Mr. Smith lamented the location, he said the small number of other potential sites around the city’s industrialized zone at its southeastern corner might be worse.

“I have no problem with a medical marijuana facility. I think the city of Surprise needs one,” he said. “I wish there were other available locations because I think this facility is needed and I don’t think it needs to be in an industrial area because it’s a cash business. A lot of people who use medical marijuana are elderly and they don’t need to be heading to that (industrial) area with a pocket full of money to buy medicine. I’m kind of torn.”

Health for Life operates two dispensaries Mesa and is part of the larger CGX Life Sciences corporation.

After the decision one of the company’s representatives, Lindsay Schube, an attorney with Phoenix law firm Gammage & Burnham,said her client will be evaluating all options going forward.

But it was clear in the aftermath that this was the only site in Surprise that CGX found viable.

“It’s a great site and we meet all the criteria. There are really no other sites available … short of land that has absolutely zero water, sewer or streets,” Ms. Schube said after the decision. “It’s not even an issue of being cost prohibitive. The way the zoning ordinance is drafted, it is so difficult to meet the criteria.”

All four residents that spoke during the public hearing, though, cited the location as the primary problem

No resident spoke in favor of the business and its proposed location during the public hearing.

“I’m for pot. I understand the purpose of it and that it helps people when they’re ill. I voted for it. But I don’t want it in that area. That may be the main community for children,” Rev. Cheryl Hawkins said. “Children are not ignorant. They will know what that building is. I don’t think it should be there.”

Several commissioners said they received some support for the project in the two weeks after the May 17 citizens review meeting.

However, the bulk of the feedback they received was in opposition of the dispensary. For Mr. Cultum, that outweighed the tour he took of Health for Life’s two Mesa dispensaries and one cultivation site, and the interaction he had with what he called a high quality, above board leadership team and staff.

“In general the facilities are exemplary, very nice and very professional. How they dealt with customers was top notch,” Mr. Cultum said. “To balance that I will say that in the last two weeks I’ve had more phone calls, more emails and more people talk to me in parking lots of grocery stores. And the communication of concerns residents have made to me in all formats have been simply how it is that a proposed medical marijuana site has entrances within 800 feet of Uptown Alley and AMC 14 — that include recreational activities for underage kids, families and unsupervised children. As an educator in Surprise, we have teens — supervised and unsupervised — there all the time.

“Ultimately, in spite of the incredible facilities and great job they do, for me, as a resident, I feel the proposed use does impair the integrity or character of our community, given it is next to a family community area,” he said.

As Ms. Schube said after the hearing, it is hard to predict how a city of public body will react to a proposed dispensary. And, she also pointed out, Uptown Alley includes a bar and features a beer stein logo outside the bowling alley.

During the presentation Ms. Schube told the commission Health for Life’s signage would not include any artwork commonly associated with cannabis. No one would be able to get inside the locked and security camera monitored facility without first showing their medical marijuana card.

Melvin McDonald, was appointed by then-president Ronal Reagan as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, said he lead the fight on the war on drugs in Arizona during the 1980s. His perspective changed when his teenage stepson was hit by a car suffered from regular grand mal seizures and lost an large amount of weight.

In 2004 he learned from his wife that his stepson was eating better because he was using marijuana. At first, Mr. McDonald said, he was fervently against it but that changed over time as the boys condition improved and medical marijuana became legal in Arizona in 2010.

Since then, he’s litigated against a corrupt partner in a medical marijuana organization and was asked by CGX Life Sciences president Beth Stavoia about becoming a chairman of the board for Health For Life in Mesa. He brought former 25-year Secret Service agent and U.S. Marshal Donald Tucker on board to lead security.

“The rules we laid out were - Rule No. 1 not one seed goes out the door. If that happens, you’re not only fired but we’re turning you into the police. Rule No. 2 is if we find patients were breaking the law we were going to turn those patients in for prosecution,” Mr. MacDonald said. “The applicant is an A+ human being. She has a commitment to making sure the rules are followed. You think of marijuana, you think of crime. This is a medicine, and I’ve seen the medicine work.”

Residents Larry Chaplin and John Paul Cartier, in addition to the proximity to the facility, brought up the possibility that if Arizona voters approve recreational marijuana, this dispensary may flip to this more lucrative business model in a few years.

Ms. Schube said that did happen with one CGX-owned dispensaries in Nevada. She said if Arizona passed recreational marijuana, the Surprise City Council can add extra requirements and limit zoning conditions before a dispensary attempted to flip.

Mr. Cartier said crime and impaired driving statistics in states that legalized recreational marijuana need to be taken into account, as well as increased associated costs in health care, criminal justice and rehabilitation programs.

“We just moved down from Washington and we saw what went on after the recreational marijuana vote. This is a concern to me is a concern if this is a possibly given how close it is to residential, the bowling alley and the theaters. We came close to voting for recreational marijuana (in 2016),” Mr. Chaplin said.