Cereal Café and Smoke Shop Coming To Dixon

By Di Schtapf

On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, the city of Dixon Planning Commission unanimously approved both the Top Notch Smoke Shop and the Joystick Gaming Lounge and Cereal Café. The smoke shop will take over the building at 645 North First Street which was a motorcycle supply shop. The lounge and café will be in the Gateway Drive area in Suites B and C at 420 Gateway.

“Pursuant to Dixon Municipal Code”, a tobacco store is a conditional use in the Service Commercial zoning district. Questions were asked by vice chair Hernandez-Covello as to whether there were going to be events, additional signage, signage in windows, or exterior improvements. Applicant Brittany Alexander replied no to all of these.

This property was a drive up shop with no landscaping and surrounded by concrete. Signs still exist in the windows advertising the old occupant’s wares. As no suggestions were made by Covello or other commissioners, this seems to push the past narrative of Dixon’s business unfriendly position. One might also ask why you need a conditional use permit for a commercial establishment in a commercially zoned district.

The other business, the gaming lounge, only required a conditional use permit because new zoning has not gone into effect, according to Community Development Director Raffi Boloyan. As the applicants didn’t want to wait another two months to get their project off the ground, they applied for the permit. Boloyan explained that the old code was based on businesses existing in the 1980’s so this type of use was non-existent at that time.

The applicants want to provide a social gathering spot for not only the youth of Dixon but to draw from other cities making Dixon a destination. Pointing to one of the goals posted on the wall of the council chamber, one of the applicants made this point. There will be television, computer consoles, virtual reality, and video games on site. A wide range of snack foods was listed on the agenda item but no mention of “cereal” was included.

Again, one has to ask the question “was a conditional use permit needed?” when this use was never listed in the first place. This is a commercial establishment, providing a gathering place for youth in the same vein as the proposed Teen Center, in a “commercially” zoned area. It is this author’s opinion that the planning commission should be more concerned about “planning” than “controlling” business entities’ trivial accouterments including paint color schemes.