Thumbs down for drive thru cannabis sales in Manteca

Drive-thru windows to purchase cannabis likely won’t be allowed in Manteca once marijuana dispensaries are legal.

A representative of marijuana retailers pitched the possibility of drive-thru windows saying it would be an effective marketing tool for a Manteca dispensary located near Highway 99. He noted curbside service for orders placed online had been effective and without problem at a number of dispensaries when pandemic lockdown rules were stringent.

The suggestion was made during Wednesday’s City Council workshop on ordinance that would allow marijuana dispensaries and possibly other cannabis related businesses to open in Manteca as early as 2022.

Several council members quickly batted the idea down.

“We don’t want to create another (Chick-fil-A),” said Manteca Mayor Ben Cantu in reference to the fast food restaurant that often has its drive-thru lane traffic back up onto Yosemite Avenue and even the nearby southbound Highway 99 off-ramp.

The council was open to a suggestion that dispensaries be allowed in commercial mixed use zones that allow apartments and similar residences after it was pointed out the designation covered most of the Yosemite Avenue and Main Street corridors. As such, it would exclude almost all likely locations for dispensaries to open in existing buildings in Manteca.

Councilman Charlie Halford noted the city could allow such use in a CMU zone but require a conditional use permit. That would allow the city to judge an application and location on a case by case basis.

Halford, who noted “the devil is in the details”, said he wants to make sure the ordinance the city crafts touches on all potential issues including signage.

Councilman Gary Singh weighed in on a similar asthenic issue saying he did not want to see bars on windows as a security measure. He prefers requiring other ways to further secure the buildings that will have armed security 24-7 including specialty glass that is extremely hard to break.

Councilman Dave Breitenbucher made it clear he still wasn’t in favor of dispensaries but wanted to make sure the ordinance had distance requirements of at least 600 feet not just from schools and children day care centers as well as youth facilities such as the Boys & Girls Club as the state requires as a default to local agencies that don’t set their own rules but also from parks and religious facilities.

All council members favored requiring the most effective security measures including high definition security cameras with live feeds to the police department.

City Manager Tony Wells noted based on police calls in Ceres that allowed dispensaries in 2018 when he worked as the top municipal bureaucrat in that community, crime is close to a non-issue at dispensaries.

He pointed to a dispensary that had less calls for police service “than you could count on a hand” during the year while a Walmart a quarter mile away had almost that many calls on any given day.

A planning commission workshop on the ordinance takes place on Thursday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. The commission two weeks later would make a recommendation on the ordinance that would go before the council on Dec. 7.