NEIGHBORS FEND OFF POT DISPENSARY

Some residents in the Magnolia Center area of Riverside appear to have
blocked the opening of a medical marijuana dispensary, ending a drama
that unfolded over several months.

It began with a dead lawn.

Riverside resident Craig Celse owns a gabled Victorian home at the
corner of Brockton and Merrill avenues that he rents for residential
use.

After city code enforcement officers cited him for dead grass, Celse
put in shrubs, rosebushes and irrigation, he said in an interview.
During a follow-up inspection, a code enforcement official noticed a
car partly outside the paved parking area and told Celse he needed to
make the driveway bigger.

So Celse poured more concrete, only to learn that he should first have
gotten a special permit because the house is in a designated historic
district. He applied for the permit and the city set a hearing for
Aug. 17.

Meanwhile, something was going on with the home's new tenants, whom
Celse had found through a broker.

Neighbors were surprised to hear the house was being turned into a
medical marijuana dispensary, said Janice Bielman, assistant
chairwoman of the Magnolia Area Neighborhood Alliance, a residents'
group.

Neighbors saw bullet-proof glass and a heavy-duty security system
being installed, Bielman said.

Many of the houses along that leg of Brockton have been rezoned for
business -- a dentist is across the street -- but Celse's house hasn't
been, and city officials say the zoning code bans dispensaries anyway.

"We were just floored that they would attempt to put one in a house
that is not an existing business in any way," Bielman said.

The neighbors' main concern, Bielman said, is that the cross-streets
stretching behind the house are a purely residential area.

Luke Luce, who planned to open the dispensary and already operates one
in Mentone, said Friday that he chose Riverside because he has
patients there who otherwise have to drive a long way for their medicine.

He said he complies with state law and does "everything by the
book."

After residents contacted the city, the city attorney's office began
an investigation. City Attorney Greg Priamos said the investigation
showed unpermitted alterations inside the house that "are not
residential," and the dispensary was advertising online an opening
date of Aug. 6. He sent a cease and desist letter.

Luce said he understood from the real estate broker that the zoning
would allow a commercial use, and he's not sure if any permits were
required for the improvements.

Celse, the property owner, said in the three months the tenants have
been in the house, he's never met them and they've paid their rent on
time. The dispensary issue was news to him when Priamos' office
contacted him, he said.

He's cooperating with the city, and in anticipation of a crowd of
angry neighbors at Wednesday's hearing, he withdrew his request for
the driveway permit and will tear out the new concrete, he said later
Thursday.

He also planned to tell the tenants they can stay if they use the
house as a residence, but they'll be evicted if they open a business.

"It wouldn't matter if it's a beauty parlor; it's not zoned for that,"
Celse said.

He understands the neighbors' concerns, he said, and he doesn't want
to be in the middle of the city's legal battle with
dispensaries.

"If I lived next door, I wouldn't want it there either," he
said.

Luce said whether cities can ban dispensaries hasn't been finally
decided by the courts,.

"Whatever way this goes...obviously I will decide to comply," he
said.

Bielman said residents are concerned about other dispensaries already
operating in the area, but they are in more commercial zones and would
have to be dealt with differently. She's happy with the way things
have turned out and attributes it in part to email blasts.

"We're a united neighborhood and we're going to band together to stop
things like this from happening," Bielman said.