The first reading of a development agreement amendment for E&J Distributors, LLC DBA Canna+Rise and Terminal Infusion and the City of Riverbank passed with a vote of 5 to 0 at the City Council meeting last week. The second reading will be held at the regular City Council meeting on April 27 to consider the adoption of the amendment.
The City of Riverbank’s Planning and Building Manager Donna M. Kenney presented the council with a detailed report of the development agreement amendment. During the presentation she explained that the business had to adhere to five things in order to approve the amendment. They are: consistent with the general plan; the business is not detrimental to health, safety, or the general welfare of the city; it does not affect orderly development or property values; is consistent with the government codes that regulate development agreements; and contains legal description of the property.
“I have been monitoring Zillow for the neighborhoods around our cannabis uses and we have not seen a reduction in property values due to those businesses,” said Kenney.
Canna+Rise has been operating on Terminal Avenue in Riverbank for a few years and is a wholesale cannabis distribution facility. They are not a dispensary and do not have a storefront or have any retail sales at the location.
The amendment to the development agreement would include a second suite with a second business called Terminal Infusion and to modify the public benefit and begin a new term to include both businesses. Terminal Infusion would be infusion only and there would be no extraction of bulk cannabis flowers done at the site. The cannabis would be infused into edibles and liquids with a machine similar to a soda fountain.
The city’s Planning Commission approved the Conditional Use Permit on March 16, 2021 before they recommended the Development Agreement to the City Council.
Noted on the background in the agenda it states, “The project site is a 6,000 square foot building, located on an approximately one (1) acre parcel. The building has an existing covered concrete pad behind a fence on which the Applicant proposes to locate Suite 2, two (2) specially constructed, reinforced steel shipping containers. Canna+Rise currently uses several shipping containers within their building for secure storage.”
Although the city council meetings are currently held on a virtual platform, the public has the ability to view the city council meetings through various methods and can voice their opinion during public comment.
The next regular city council meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 27.
For complete details and specifics of the development agreement, visit riverbank.org and select meetings and agendas for the meeting held on April 13.
