‘Queen of Cannabis’ zoning hearing continued

by Tom Beck
Posted 4/27/23

The Springfield Township Zoning Hearing Board continued until May 22 a hearing on Christine Visco’s appeal of a violation issued for operating a business within a residential district.

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‘Queen of Cannabis’ zoning hearing continued

Posted

The Springfield Township Zoning Hearing Board issued a continuance for Monday night’s scheduled hearing on neighbor Christine Visco’s appeal of a violation issued for operating a business within a residential district. Visco has been dubbed the “Queen of Cannabis” by The Philadelphia Inquirer for being the founder and president of TerraVida Holistic Centers, a chain of medical marijuana stores based in the Philadelphia suburbs. 

The zoning violation, which was issued in January came after cars started appearing in front of Visco’s home on the 600 block of East Gravers Lane in Wyndmoor, which neighbors said created an unsafe situation for pedestrians.

The parked cars spilled past the driveway of Visco’s next-door neighbor, Leslie Purple, blocking Purple’s visibility when she tried to pull her car out of her driveway.

“We’re concerned mostly for the safety of our neighbors because we don’t have sidewalks,” Purple told the Local for a story in last week’s issue. “You don’t own the road, you share the road.”

Neighbors say they approached Visco politely about moving the cars, but she wouldn’t budge. Visco responded to residents’ concerns in an email sent to her neighbors. 

“My cars will always be parked on the street,” Visco said in the email. “[Y]ou’re entitled, and I don’t care how entitled or how much money you have, you can never prevent me from parking those cars on the street. What you’re doing is inciting me to make sure that there is no Peace.”

In the email, Visco also denied running a business out of her home.

“I don’t run a business,” she wrote. “It’s illegal for me to run a business so you guys are poking the bear when this goes all the way to the Supreme Court.”

In a statement previously sent to the Local, Visco’s lawyer, Daniel Rivlin, said in an email that the whole controversy is just a case of neighbors being upset about who their new neighbor is, and the nature of her business.

The hearing’s new date is scheduled for May 22.