VISTA — The Vista Community Clinic, a student drug prevention club and several residents voiced strong opposition to a proposed expansion of cannabis distribution before the City Council unanimously approved it Tuesday evening.
Under the updated ordinance, the city will allow one cannabis distributor per 10,000 residents, setting the current cap at roughly 11. Vista has two distributors, both in the Vista Business Park, and 10 retail outlets, according to city staff.
Distributors will be allowed in six types of zones: industrial, mixed-use, light manufacturing and commercial types A, B and C. They will need special use permits.
According to a staff report, the expansion is intended to let existing cannabis retailers sell pre-rolled products under their own brand names. Typically, distributors buy cannabis from growers and sell it to retailers, which then sell it to customers.
After the staff presentation, Aaron Garcia, a Vista High School student and president of the STAY Club, which advocates for alcohol and tobacco prevention, urged the council to consider the effect on young people.
“As a high school student, I see first-hand how quickly something that becomes more common in the community can be perceived as normal or harmless by teenagers,” Garcia told the council. “That matters because adolescence is precisely the period when we should be taking the long-term consequences of substance abuse seriously.“
Garcia said statewide data shows roughly 3.6% of middle school students and about 16% of 11th graders report currently using marijuana.
“That raises the important question of how is cannabis reaching such young students? How has a substance that is legally restricted to adults become accessible enough that students in middle school are reporting its use? We should be asking what are the consequences for the community we are building,” Garcia said.
Carina Delgado, a substance abuse prevention specialist with the Vista Community Clinic, also raised concerns about youth access.
“As a prevention professional, one of our responsibilities is helping youth understand that although cannabis is legal for adults, it does not mean that cannabis is safe or appropriate for youth to use,” Delgado said.
Delgado cited a recent survey in which only 9% of Vista 11th graders said marijuana would be difficult for them to obtain.
“When young people perceive a substance as easy to obtain, and see it becoming more visible and established in their community it can also contribute to the perception that its use is normal or even low-risk,” Delgado said.
She said effective prevention includes addressing public attitudes toward substance use and urged the council to increase its prevention efforts alongside the expansion.
“If cannabis distribution and access for the cannabis industry continues to expand in this city, our investment in youth prevention, parent education, responsible messaging, and community awareness should all expand as well,” Delgado said.
Three other residents spoke remotely, all opposing the cannabis industry’s expansion in Vista.
After public comment closed, Councilmember Katie Melendez, who proposed the expansion, defended it. She described Vista’s cannabis industry as modest and said retailers are struggling with tight margins.
“The city of Vista has benefitted from what really was the public’s desire to have cannabis retailers here in Vista. It was not a choice of a council or a city administration that brought cannabis retailers here to Vista. It was through an initiative by the members of the public because previous councils had denied again and again this opportunity.”
In 2018, voters approved Measure Z, allowing medical cannabis storefronts and making Vista the first North County city to permit them. The City Council later expanded rules to allow testing, manufacturing, and distribution, and eventually voted to permit recreational adult-use retail sales in 2021.
More recently, the city has considered amending the cannabis dispensary initiative to also permit consumption lounges, where patrons could consume inhalable and ingestible cannabis in a safe environment.
Councilmember Corinna Contreras suggested amending Melendez’s motion to set the distributor cap at one per 10,000 residents. Melendez accepted the amendment.
Regulating cameras
Council members expressed a wider range of views on a proposal by Contreras to have city staff draft an ordinance banning the city from purchasing or deploying automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, what she called “mass surveillance” technology.
Contreras acknowledged that the term has different definitions but called for a citywide discussion about banning ALPRs or regulating their use to prevent abuses if the city does not implement a ban.
Vista currently does not allow city staff or the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, with which it contracts for law enforcement, to use ALPRs.
Deputy Mayor Dan O’Donnell said Vista is the only city in the county that contracts with the Sheriff’s Office but does not allow deputies to use ALPRs. Councilmember Jeff Fox noted that law enforcement has installed the technology in many of its vehicles and said a blanket ban could leave too few vehicles available for use in Vista.
“I want to be very measured,” Fox said.
Mayor John Franklin said the technology is already widespread.
“This is now a ubiquitous technology,” Franklin said. “I don’t think you can put this genie back in the bottle.”
Franklin noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill last year, SB 274, that would have regulated ALPR use statewide.
“People on both sides of the aisle are definitely divided on this,” Franklin said.
Melendez said the public values its constitutional rights and is not swayed by what she described as political displays.
“Parading around with photo ops, with opportune moments, victim stories,” Melendez said.
O’Donnell pushed back, citing the death of Carlsbad resident Vanessa Wheyland, 45, who was struck while crossing a street with her husband and 12-year-old son. Police used ALPR technology to help identify a suspect, who was arrested and charged with murder.
“If that was my wife that was killed in Carlsbad, and the murder was solved by an ALPR. I wouldn’t even be having this discussion,” O’Donnell said. “That’s not a photo op necessarily as much as it is just the raw emotion behind people seeing these crimes solved.”
O’Donnell acknowledged the technology’s value in investigations while also raising concerns about reported abuses elsewhere.
“These things do solve crimes in some situations,” O’Donnell said.
The council took no vote. Contreras asked staff to research the technology and how other cities regulate it, then report back at a future meeting.
In other business, the council approved a 51-unit condominium development at 1860 E. Vista Way.
The council also approved speed bumps on Brookhaven Pass between Sycamore Avenue and Mountain Pass Circle, along with stop signs at Alta Vista Terrace and Alta Vista Drive and at Alta Vista Drive and Beaumont Drive.
The council endorsed the Public Arts Commission’s recommendation to have Marie K. Lim create artwork for the utility box at South Melrose Drive and Oak Ridge Way.
