The Berkeley City Council gave the green light yesterday to a medical marijuana dispensary to move into the former Sharffen Berger headquarters at 914 Heinz Avenue, against the objections of some residents and business owners, as the Oakland Tribune reports. “Everyone in Berkeley says they believe in medical marijuana, but not in their neighborhood,” says Debby Goldsberry, Director of Berkeley Patients Group, the dispensary in question.
The Sharffen Berger facility has been closed since last year, when parent company Hershey decided to shutter it. Berkeley Bowl West, which will be a neighbor to the pot club, fears that its patrons will try to use their already tight parking lot; and Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley, a French emersion school a block away, objects because as a private institution it is not protected by Berkeley’s ballot measure JJ, which keeps marijuana dispensaries from opening within 1,000 feet of public schools.
But the loudest objector to the plan is a developer, Wareham Development, who owns some stake in the neighborhood and has threatened to sue the city if they allow Berkeley Patients Group to move in. So it looks like they’ll be suing.
Mark Berson, President of the Chamber of Commerce, says of the conflict, “I think we can work something out.”
Berkeley OKs medical pot clinic move into former candy company [Oakland Tribune]
Earlier: Hershey to Close Down Sharffen Berger’s Berkeley Facility [ViniCultured]
