Grove City rejects marijuana dispensary permit

GROVE CITY, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Grove City’s city council rejected a special use permit Monday night for a proposed marijuana dispensary.

A special use permit grants permission to use a property in a way that’s not normally allowed by zoning ordinances.

Randy Holt was the only council member to vote in favor of a proposal for a Shangri-La dispensary at 3586 Broadway.

Council President Christine Houk said she had concerns about parking and traffic at the proposed site.

Watch: Grove City rejects marijuana dispensary permit

“No matter how much we put signage up or tell people which way they can turn or how they can get in and out, people that are on Broadway and Southwest Boulevard will be inconvenienced by the actions that people take to get in and out of this site, because it is really, in my mind, trying to put a square peg in a round hole,” Houk said.

Rebecca Mott, one of Shangri-La’s attorneys, spoke on the character of the site’s neighborhood at Monday night’s meeting.

“If it wasn’t going to work in terms of the operator’s use in how they want to lay out the site, then they wouldn’t have looked here,” Mott said.

“I just want to see that corner revitalized,” Holt said. “And if it causes some traffic that we have to deal with and come up with some solutions, I’m comfortable the administration and the traffic guys can figure that out.”

Under state law, dispensaries cannot be within 500 feet of churches, schools, opiate treatment centers, libraries or parks. Both Shangri-La and Ohio Cannabis Company applied to open in Grove City, but both are ineligible under the city’s new rules, which do not allow dispensaries within 500 feet of homes.

Holt said the motivation behind his vote was supporting what the majority of residents voted for.

“They said they wanted marijuana in Grove City,” Holt said. “So I’m working through how to get that in there.”

Longtime Grove City resident Julia O’Brien said she currently has to travel to a dispensary in Columbus.

“I don’t know why Grove City would want me and all of the other Grove City residents to take our tax dollars over to Columbus and spend them there,” O’Brien said. “Why shouldn’t we get the benefit of that here?”

Andrew Johnson works at Domino’s, on the same street as the site. He said he’s witnessed the high traffic.

“It makes me feel uncomfortable with the amount of business that place would get, and the clientele that would be going there because the impairment that could happen with marijuana,” Johnson said. “I just don’t want to have someone crashing into my driver when they are trying to leave.”

Holt said traffic is an issue that always needs to be addressed.

“We always are working with traffic,” he said. “We always take the opportunity when development comes in to make changes to roads and turn lanes and these kind of things. That’s what we need to do.”

Council members said it comes down to use, and they don’t feel the dispensary would be an appropriate use of the site.

Councilwoman Melissa Anderson said that they’ve already said they’d allow two dispensaries in the city through previous legislation.

“I don’t think it’s about whether or not we want this or what we want to vote on for that,” Anderson said. “It’s about the site. It’s about the traffic.”

“I could see my way through the traffic concerns,” Holt said. “I believe we would be able to resolve those in the future through the development process. Are we never going to put another business in that location? I mean, that’s really what this is. It became a death sentence for that property.”

Mark Sigrist, councilperson-at-large, also voted against the permit.

“To me, it’s not about whether we, or I, support having a retail or dispensary in the city,” Sigrist said. “It’s about, is this the best place? And so I struggle with that.”

Ohio Cannabis Company has postponed its application until November. It has applied for a location on Stringtown Road.

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