Sapulpa Planning Commission met last Tuesday evening primarily to discuss four public hearing items on the agenda. In attendance were Hunter Edwards, Lou Martin, Jasson Brook, Andrew Probst, Julie Longoria, and Carla Stinnett. Kayla Parnell was absent.
There was a discussion between the councilors and City Attorney David Widdoes over medical marijuana establishments, their perceived proliferation in the City, and the image they convey to visitors and families. Widdoes said, “We have less dispensaries per capita than any other community our size.” If it appears that we are consistently seeing a large amount of them at Planning Commission meetings, it’s because the City requires an SUP for every facility and process so they have more control. So although it may seem like we are “overrun” with medical marijuana facilities, on the contrary, we are, in fact, below the average.
See a map of all the medical marijuana facilities that have applied to get a Special Use Permit (including who’s been denied and closed).
An SUP (special use permit) was approved to allow The Canna Kitchen at 14920 West Highway 66 to have additional marijuana processing on site, which will include a cannabis-cooking lab. Staff answered questions from Commissioner Martin about the efficacy of screening on all sides of the property. Urban Development Director Nikki Howard assured Martin that appropriate screening between the facility and the nearby residential area exists due to the deep tree line on the property, and said that they have had no complaints from neighbors. This was approved.
Lastly, Blooms Wellness/Bruce Whisenhunt applied for an SUP to open a medical marijuana retail dispensary in a Commercial Shopping zoning district at 724 South Mission Street, north of Advanced Auto Parts. Wisenhunt spoke and said this was a business for his daughter, Alicia Scott. He said that the building has been sitting empty for quite some time and that they plan to put a lot of work into renovating and improving it. Scott contributed, “We want to focus on the medicinal uses of cannabis.” This was unanimously approved.
The final plat was approved for Mission Street, LLC/Wiley Smith’s subdevelopment of 8 residences on the northeast corner of East Line and Quail Run Lane. There was no additional infrastructure required, the area is designated residential on the future land use map for the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, and there were no changes made from the preliminary plat. This was unanimously approved.
A Planned Unit Development (PUD) was unanimously approved to allow D*Luxe Properties to develop the area at 927 South Main Street to build a retail space, event center, food truck park, and amphitheater, among other attractions. The property sits in a flood plain but the developers are working closely with City staff to ensure that they adhere to all applicable regulations and guidelines. Staff reported that they have only received one public comment on the project. The comment came from Sapulpa Park Friends and their only concern was that they hope the developer is not opposed to the proposed trail expansion at Kelly Lane Park. The developers said not only are they not opposed to the expansion, but also that they want to contribute to it.
These four items will be heard next at the regular City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 8th.
