Carson City Planning Commission approves medical marijuana shop

A medical marijuana dispensary proposed for Clearview Drive in Carson City secured approval from the Planning Commission Wednesday night.

The commission voted without dissent for a special use permit sought by Nevada Organix, LLC, which would go into Unit 119 of a shopping center at 135 Clearview Drive just off South Carson Street. The decision came despite an objection from Jeff Furhrman of Carson City, who has a landscaping supply firm named Nevada Organics. He said confusion over the name similarity might cause him nuisance or other problems.

Bill Myer, CEO and president of Nevada Organix, LLC, said if problems arise he can communicate about what might be done, but his firm has approval from the state under the current name. Myer testified he has a similar business called Arizona Organix in Phoenix.

“We have some experience at this,” he said, adding there have been no incidents for him in Arizona during more than two years of operation there. He called the security system he plans to use “second to none.” Nevada Organix previously has obtained approval for a cultivation/production facility to the northeast on Deer Run Road as well, according to Planning Manager Susan Dorr Pansky, which is going to supply the dispensary.

Fuhrman also objected to that last month based on the same name similarity problem. He told the commission this time one of his worries is people mistakenly showing up at his home. “I’m not worried about the telephone,” he said. “I’m concerned about the people walking down my driveway.”

Community Development Director Lee Plemel said he understood Fuhrman’s concern, but the secretary of state’s office deals with business names. Pansky, meanwhile, said the dispensary is slated for a unit on Clearview with 1,374 square feet of space. There’s more than adequate parking for an estimated 130 patients who might use the facility daily, and open hours would be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Myer, however, countered that estimate. “We would be delighted to see 40 or 50 patients a day in the early going,” he said.

Myer, after the commission voted approval, said it’s yet to be determined when the dispensary is going to open for business. By state law, Carson City can have two dispensaries.

In other commission action, members voted without dissent to approve a staff compliance review of a special use permit for outdoor merchandise display at the shopping center on North Carson Street where Evergreen Gene’s puts out plants in authorized parts of the parking lot area. The center is in the 1800 block of North Carson.