Is Goleta the Ganja Land?

The riches promised by storefront cannabis shops were enough to have one landlord joking that he would be renting to the best drug dealers in Goleta. Fifteen applicants have filed with the City of Goleta to open retail stores selling cannabis products. Nine are in Old Town, though three were made inactive for being within 300 feet of an earlier applicant. But Old Town might be able to avoid having cannabis retail on every block; on Monday, the Planning Commission will consider expanding the proximity requirements between shops and around the Goleta Valley Community Center.

The fervor over cannabis gold has some longtime landmarks looking to make the switch, including the palm reader on the corner of Fairview and Hollister avenues and the old Union 76 station on the corner of Hollister Avenue and Rutherford Street. The 2,500-square-foot Gimeal Restaurant on Orange Avenue has also filed. The gas station is now a Fuel Depot owned by John Price, who was told by Goleta Planning that a major, not a minor, conditional-use permit could be required: His cannabis shop would be too close to homes (within 100 feet) and the children’s day school at the Goleta Valley Community Center (600 feet). Price has a second application in for the Zizzo’s Coffee drive-thru at 370 Storke Road. Contacted briefly on the phone, Price said he was reconsidering the Fuel Depot permit.

Goleta’s retail cannabis rules went into effect August 17, 2018, a date that saw at least nine applications filed, and next week’s Planning Commission meeting follows a January workshop on rule revisions. All the applicants were told that any permit decisions would be made according to the city rules in force at the time, a statement that has gotten pushback from Coastal Dispensary’s attorneys, Cappello & Noël. Coastal has applied for a cannabis shop at 5710 Hollister Avenue, directly across the street from the Goleta Valley Community Center. It’s already been approved for a store in Santa Barbara on Chapala Street, though the spot is currently red-tagged for premature building renovations, and Coastal’s cannabis permit has been challenged.