SCHENECTADY — A second cannabis dispensary could soon arrive in Schenectady after the city planning commission unanimously approved a site plan application Wednesday night for the proposed Grass & Goodness cannabis shop at the Proforma retail complex at 1650 Crane St.
The plaza on the Rotterdam border includes Proforma, Lee’s Trophies and Twist'N Flip Gymnastics, and is located adjacent to Sportsman's Bowl, which has a separate parking lot from the business plaza.
Upstate Canna Co., the city’s first cannabis retailer, opened on upper Union Street in March 2023 and quickly drew lines stretching down the block, with local businesses raising concerns about the disruption caused by the volume of customers at the cannabis shop.
Planning Commission Chair Mary Moore Wallinger said the planned Crane Street cannabis retailer is in a more remote location and should pose less inconvenience to nearby businesses, noting the lack of public opposition during Wednesday’s meeting regarding the dispensary.
Cannabicity officially opened its doors last month with a gamut of products that range from edibles to CBD-infused beverages, ointments and flowers that can be smoked. Shelves are also stocked with sleep aids and vape pens, and there’s even a section devoted to pets.
“It’s further indicative that this is a better location for this,” Wallinger said.
Proforma owner Joseph Guidarelli appeared before the planning commission on Wednesday night for a site plan application for the dispensary, which would operate out of 3,900 square feet of retail space formerly occupied by Proforma, a product distribution company which will maintain 2,275 square feet of space at the site.
The proposed site of the Green Grass cannabis dispensary at 1650 Crane St. in Schenectady.
Guidarelli said the gymnastics business, which currently operates out of a 6,795-square-foot site in the corner of the business complex, is set to relocate to Rotterdam before the dispensary opens.
The bowling alley across the lot from the complex hosts children’s and junior bowling leagues Fridays through Sundays.
The complex contains 52 parking spaces, with the shop to offer curbside pickup options.
Guidarelli told the commission that the dispensary does not anticipate lines forming outside the door when it opens.
“If that’s the case, we’re failing as a business operation,” Guidarelli said. “We want it to be in-and-out. We don’t want people hanging around.”
Under the proposal, the Crane Street dispensary would be open seven days per week, operating from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Guidarelli said after the meeting that the timeframe to open the cannabis dispensary is to be determined.
The Crane Street dispensary received an Adult-Use Retail Dispensary License from the state Office of Cannabis Management in February.
The City Council passed a three-month smoke shop moratorium in March that bars applicants from receiving building permits and land use approvals for smoke and vape shops between March 12 and June 10 as the council crafts zoning restrictions for the location of future smoke shops.
The council explored separate zoning restrictions for cannabis dispensaries last summer but, during discussions on smoke shop zoning this spring, the council was informed by the city’s corporation counsel office that city zoning restrictions for cannabis retailers would not be allowed, as it would conflict with state cannabis regulations.
“We’ve been told that we don’t have any say over zoning because it’s a state thing,” Council President Marion Porterfield said on Thursday.
According to the state Office of Cannabis Management, local municipalities are permitted to “pass local laws and regulations governing the time, place and manner of adult-use retail dispensaries and on-site consumption licenses provided that the local law and regulations do not make the operation of the license unreasonably impracticable as determined by the Cannabis Control Board.”
The state regulations note that municipalities are permitted to pass laws and regulations pertaining to local zoning for cannabis retailers.
Corporation Counsel Maxine Barasch did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
State regulations prohibit cannabis dispensaries from setting up shop on the same road and within 500 feet of a school or on the same street and within 200 feet of a house of worship. The Crane Street dispensary would be located one mile from Hamilton Middle School.
In December 2021, Porterfield proposed that the city opt out of allowing recreational cannabis sales in the city, but was ultimately outvoted on the matter.
“I think that is a better location,” Porterfield said of the Crane Street dispensary. “If we’re talking about some of the concerns that have been brought up so far on Union Street about the lines outside, that [Crane Street] location doesn’t sound like it will be as impactful in that way.”
During Wednesday night’s meeting, the planning commission tabled a site plan application for a separate cannabis dispensary, which would be located at 1643 Eastern Parkway. The applicants for that proposed dispensary, named Cloud 9 Evolution, were asked to confer with City Engineer Chris Wallin regarding parking concerns about the site.
Councilwoman Doreen Ditoro submitted a letter to the planning commission noting her concerns with the proposed Eastern Parkway dispensary, which would be located a half of a mile from Upstate Canna Co.
“We’ve seen two or three smoke shops in a neighborhood and I don’t want us to be known as the cannabis city,” Ditoro said. “There’s no need to have one a half-mile away.”
Ditoro said she would be more amenable to the location for the Crane Street cannabis retailer.
“I do like locations like that and I don’t want people who use a legal product to feel as though they’re being pushed out of anywhere by any means,” she said on Thursday. “I’m all for new business here in the city. It’s just that there’s certain places that it doesn’t belong.”
Correction 4/19/24, 11:20 a.m.: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect business name for Grass & Goodness.