The Mitchell Planning and Zoning Commission denied variance requests for two medical cannabis dispensary applicants on Monday.
DLJ LLC’s proposed location at 501 East Juniper Avenue is 867 feet away from another medical cannabis dispensary. The city ordinance requires a distance of 1,000 feet between two dispensaries. Nicholas Kummer, who owns property adjacent to the applicant, spoke against the variance as did attorney Doug Dailey, who represents landowners in that area. The request was denied unanimously, 6-0.
Genesis Farms applied for a variance request for its proposed location at 106 West 5th Avenue in downtown Mitchell. That location is 101 feet away from a church. The city ordinance requires a medical marijuana dispensary to be at least 300 feet away from a religious institution. Brenda Weisser and Nathan Weber spoke against the Genesis location. The variance request was also denied unanimously, but the commission did approve a conditional use permit for Genesis on a 5-1 vote.
The Mitchell City Council will make the final decision on both variance requests.