By Mark Cowling | Florence Reminder & Blade Tribune
A Valley businessman who has been turned down twice for a permit to operate a medical marijuana dispensary in the former Big O Tires store is now seeking one at the vacant hospital at 450 W. Adamsville Road.
The Florence Planning & Zoning Commission heard Rakesh “Rocky” Pahwa’s request for a conditional use permit at its Sept. 19 meeting but voted to table the application until its Nov. 7 meeting. This will allow more time to answer the commission’s questions about the application’s proximity to school property. Also between now and then, an update of the town’s medical marijuana ordinance could take effect, which could also have an effect on Pahwa’s application.
The update now pending before the Town Council, among other changes, exempts a dispensary from having to be far away from prisons, libraries and other “sensitive uses” when it is in a hospital. In that case, sensitive uses are limited to the state’s definition of a public or private school.
