Akron City Council OKs revised plan for Fairlawn Heights dispensary – Akron Beacon Journal
One planned marijuana dispensary is moving forward while another will require more consideration before a deciding vote is taken after Akron City Council met virtually Jan. 26.
The council, working remotely while the city continued to dig out from a weekend snowstorm, voted 11-2 to permit Klutch Cannabis to open a dispensary at 1960 W. Market St. Voting no were at-large Councilwoman Linda Omobien and Ward 8 Councilman Bruce Bolden, who represents the Fairlawn Heights-Wallhaven area where the dispensary will operate.
In July, council granted Klutch a permit to build a dispensary dual-use dispensary on the empty lot at 1956 W. Market Street, two doors down from Ken Stewart’s Grille and adjacent to Pink Petals Florist.
Klutch was under contract to buy the immediately neighboring building that leases out to Pink Petals, an option it decided to exercise. The change in plans brought Klutch’s proposal back before council.
Tango Ventures LLC — known commonly as Klutch Cannabis — is Akron-local with a cultivation facility in Cuyahoga Falls and dispensaries in Northfield, Canton, Cleveland, Lorain and Loudonville.
At a Jan. 12 meeting of council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee, Pete Nischt, Klutch’s vice president of compliance and communications, said Klutch is helping to relocate Pink Petals.
“We think this plan is better,” said Nischt. “Planning Commission thought it was better.”
Planning Commission documents state the revised plan includes six more off-street parking spaces and “no major changes to the business operations of the previously approved use.”
Nischt said Klutch wouldn’t expand the 1,490-square-foot single story building.
The documents say Klutch intends to operate the dispensary daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Signal Akron Documenter Gigi Fuhry reported previously that a representative from Klutch said the company anticipates roughly 100 five-to-ten minute daily transactions, with scheduled pickups for online sales — and the hire of 10 full-time, on-site employees with a $400,000 payroll.
Prospects for The Landing, a planned dispensary in the Merriman Valley from Firelands Scientific, are far less clear. A Jan. 26 Council hearing concluded without action, and Council President Margo Sommerville said a special meeting will be held at 3 p.m. Jan. 29 to continue discussions in council chambers at 166 S. High St.
Firelands is seeking a conditional use permit to open a dual-use marijuana dispensary at 1140 W. Portage Trail. The company recently withdrew a plan to open a dispensary in Highland Square after significant pushback from neighbors. Residents speaking at the Jan. 26 hearing voiced similar objections to putting the dispensary at the Valley site.
A Jan. 22 letter to the council from lawyer Alex Quay — a partner with Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs LLC representing Crossings Development at 1670 Akron-Peninsula Road and its general partner Nicole Lee — outlined residents’ misgivings.
The planned dispensary’s proximity to Valley Kids Daycare and a bus route raised concerns, the letter said. The Merriman Valley Master Plan also states that the area has three smoke shops and doesn’t need any more, the letter said.
There are zoning concerns as well. Specifically, the letter suggests the facility violates the stated purposes of the city’s form-based zoning code. The letter also claims the CVS location is prohibited because an existing cultivation facility operates within a mile of the proposed dispensary, which is prohibited by the Akron Zoning Code.
Concerns over effects on residential and commercial real estate are outlined, too, as are worries about traffic.
Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com or 330-541-9413.