11-29-2022 12:48am

Saline Approves Preliminary Plans for Two Marijuana Dispensaries

Two marijuana dispensaries are one step closer to setting up shop in the City of Saline.

City council voted to approve both company’s preliminary site plans and special land use requests at its Nov. 21 meeting.

This follows approval by Saline’s Planning Commission, which deemed both projects, located in areas zoned for business use, in accord with the city’s future master plan and relevant ordinance requirements.

The first project, proposed by Leoni Wellness, would bring an adult recreational use-only dispensary to 660 E. Michigan Ave., the current location of Zax Car Wash.

The site plan calls for the remodeling of the existing commercial building, the addition of 29 parking spots, construction of walkway around the building’s perimeter and curbed landscaping.

The second project, proposed by Compassionate Advisors/Pincanna Medical Marijuana Provisioning Center, would be located in the existing three-tenant commercial building at 813 W. Michigan Ave. on the road’s southeast corner, filling a currently vacant space and joining two other tenants, a dance studio, Dance Alliance of Saline, and the Village Party Store at the .6-acre site.

The dispensary’s owner plans to provide both medical marijuana and adult recreational use sales in a limited-access area of the building behind a waiting and reception space.

The Pincanna site plan calls for interior remodeling and includes a shared parking agreement with an adjacent property at 783 West Michigan Avenue to accommodate its needs. Parking lot repair, although mentioned by the city’s site plan review consultant as a necessary improvement, is not a project requirement.

Also mentioned in the site plan is odor-elimination equipment. The applicant stated that all retail products at the site will arrive pre-packaged but also disclosed that it had been cultivating marijuana for about three years in “Hoop House Grow Buildings.”

Both dispensaries still need city council to grant them final site plan approval before they can obtain building permits. Saline’s permit application will require the applicants to provide comprehensive facility operation plans that specify details about the store’s security, hours of operation and number of employees. Information about odor control measures and how cannabis is stored and disposed of at the site is also required.