Cathedral City, a city that has been pretty chill when it comes to allowing marijuana dispensaries, surprisingly rejected a plan to add a marijuana grow in one of its shopping centers this week and does anyone really care if they are growing weed near where you get your drive thru tacos?
The plan would’ve divided the Mor Furniture for Less store on Highway 111 into seven individual suites used for marijuana cultivation and there would still be room left over for a paint shop that would be in the front – with all the weed hidden in the back.
But, as the Desert Sun reports, the planning commission rejected it by a 3 to 1 vote.
“At some point you have to draw the line and I draw the line on this one,” said commission member Barry Jaquess, who voted with the majority in the May 2 decision denying the package. “To take one of the largest retail spaces in our city and say we’re going to allow a cannabis related business in it, I find it alarming.”
Alarming? Really?
The proposal raises questions about the potential for marijuana cultivation to make or break local retail centers. Jaquess called the proposed grow a “a kiss of death” to the mall, while a representative of the owner, Sheila Weinstock, said the grow would help the mall to fill 100,000 square feet of showroom and distribution center space after the Mor Furniture lease runs out.
The kiss of death? Wait. Where have I heard this kind of talk before?
Besides, shopping centers are dying all over the country. They should be happy to get any tenant they can get these days.
