The Wildomar City Council last week approved a request from The Cake House dispensary to open a second location in the city in a 3-2 vote with Mayor Pro Tem Ashlee DePhillippo and Councilmember Carlos Marquez voting against.
“This is a legal business, like any other legal business in the State of California and in the city of Wildomar,” Mayor Bridgette Moore said ahead of the vote at the Nov. 13 meeting. “And if we were to not approve this, we would potentially open ourselves up to a lawsuit.”
The proposed dispensary, The Cake House East, is set to be built on the northeast corner of Clinton Keith Road and the I–15 Freeway in the not yet built Catt Crossings Retail Center. Per the development agreement, the city is expected to receive an estimated $200,000 annually to the general fund for the first five years the business is open, for a total of $1 million.
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DePhillippo said her no vote, although symbolic, was representative of her constituents, many of whom voted against the city allowing the sale of cannabis in the city.
“It’s easy for me, because I already know that my residents in District 5 don’t want this,” she said. “And I believe the residents right there on the other side of that block wall would additionally not care for it, and so for that reason, I’m a no.”
Maquez said that his vote against the proposal was harder to make, because while he said he understood the city’s legal and fiscal responsibility, he was torn on whether or not having a dispensary there was the “highest and best use,” of the property.
“It’s about balancing the revenue so that we continue to provide the services that our residents want and need versus the wants of the community,” he said. “And I think that’s a very delicate scale.”
The council has now approved the operation of four dispensaries in the city, all on Clinton Keith Road, though only two are currently operating.
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