I’m sure most of you are aware of the dual use marijuana dispensary that was approved to go in at 1960 West Market St., (that’s the empty lot at the corner of Frank and West Market Streets) last July. They have come back in with a change of plans as they have acquired the Pink Petals floral shop, and now plan to use that building as their dispensary, and the corner lot will be paved for parking. This came back into zoning because this property has a different address and it must go through the conditional zoning process. I had voted against this back in July as the majority of you felt there were issues with traffic at the intersection and/or didn’t want the dispensary at all. This legislation will not be voted on until January has been approved by the planning commission and will come to council again for a vote. We will discuss this at our January award meeting but if you have questions, feel free to give me a call or send an email to discuss.
There is also a new marijuana dispensary proposed in the Merriman Valley at the old CVS site on Portage Trail extension. This site is actually in Ward 1, but it does affect the valley where I represent the majority of Akron‘s interest in Ward 8. We have talked in the past about zoning requirements for any dispensary in Akron and this site does fit all of those requirements. It is 500 feet from a school, church, public playground or park and is more than a mile from any other retail dispensary. With that being said, it’s presence falls in the Merriman Valley master plan, but there is no mention of dispensaries being prohibited in the plan. I would rather see some other type of retail development here, but no one has stepped up in over two years since the CVS has closed.
This proposed development has space for three other future retail tennants, which will not be related to marijuana and developed if the conditional zoning is approved by council. Once again, the planning commission has approved this plan and it will come before City Council in late January. I have attached a site plan photo and if you have questions or concerns, please reach out. Once again, I’ll follow along with the majority of Ward 8 residents who contact me. We have talked about the stigma of dispensaries and the realities of the effects on neighboring business and neighborhoods in the past. I don’t think this will be a high volume traffic issue and it should be less than the amount of cars that were in and out of CVS. Again, we will discuss further at our January 21 Ward Meeting.