The Island’s first recreational pot shop received approval from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Thursday night, on condition that customers arrive by appointment only and the facility meets a variety of traffic and safety protocols.
At a meeting Thursday, commissioners unanimously approved Patient Centric MV, a recreational marijuana dispensary, after a review of the project as a development of regional impact (DRI). The applicant and owner is entrepreneur Geoff Rose, who has previously received approval to operate a medical marijuana dispensary out of the site.
The facility will be located at 510 State Road in West Tisbury. While abutters voiced numerous concerns about traffic and parking during the public hearing process, commissioners said Thursday that the benefits of the project outweighed its detriments.
“It is meeting an apparent consumer demand that has otherwise not been met on the Island at all,” commissioner Joan Malkin said.
The approval includes a number of conditions pertaining to traffic and safety at the site, issues that surfaced at three public hearings over the past months.
The facility will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It will be limited to operating during that time frame, but can be open for fewer hours if Mr. Rose chooses.
Customers will be allowed in the facility by appointment only, with five appointments allowed every 15 minutes, as well as a sixth express appointment. Delivery service will be limited to medical use.
A parking attendant is required to be at the facility at all times to allow for the safe flow of traffic for the first three months that the facility is open, and the entrance and parking lot to the site have to be demarcated and striped according to commission requirements.
A one-bedroom apartment in the building will also have to go to a Patient Centric employee once the current lease ends, according to the conditions.
Mr. Rose was recently cleared by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission to grow medical marijuana at the site, but is still waiting on state approval to begin selling marijuana recreationally. He has previously stated that he hopes to have medical products available by November.
In the roll call vote, commissioners Gail Barmakian, Clarence Barnes 3rd, Christina Brown, Robert Doyle, Josh Goldstein, Fred Hancock, James Joyce, Joan Malkin, Kathy Newman, Ben Robinson, Ernie Thomas, Christine Todd, Richard Toole, Jim Vercruysse and Doug Sederholm all voted to approve the project.
