Neighbors of a planned medical marijuana dispensary in Kent are concerned about its location near families, the entrance the Kent State University, fraternity houses and the city's Portage County Municipal Courthouse.

The business, Slightly Toasted, is planning to open at 331 E. Main St. and brought site plans and a request for conditional zoning to the city's planning commission this week. The panel did not vote, however, after hearing from neighbors and determining there were additional details needed in the site plan before a vote.

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Hearing commission members’ concerns, property owner James Dulick requested and was granted a continuance, which will enable him to add details to the site plan requested by commission members.

Following a discussion among commission members, Commission Chair Amanda Edwards said the updated plans should include the location of an enclosed trash bin, the specific dimensions of fencing enclosing a delivery area, a landscape plan and a lighting plan complying with state requirements for medical marijuana dispensaries.

However, several neighbors told commission members that they do not believe the location is an appropriate one for a medical marijuana dispensary.

“There's a lot of families,” said Sharon Perkowski, a North Willow Street resident. “We also have St. Pat’s School, which is further away, but we have a lot of children that walk around that area. We also have a park that’s part of the Kent City School board office area. We also have a mosque in our area, and we get a lot of families going to the mosque. We have a lot of businesses. We have a family business that's been there for a long time — Martin’s dental office.”

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However, according to Kent City Engineer Tim Sahr, the building would be located more than 100 feet from the residential district, which is the primary setback rule with which the dispensary must conform. The dispensary also must not be located within 500 feet of a church, public library, public playground or public park.

Dr. Chris Martin, who owns Martin Dental Care, which is located just east of the proposed dispensary site on East Main Street, said he’s concerned about the effect a dispensary could have on his business, adding that he’s had problems with noise and trash from the current business on the site.

“I do feel somewhat threatened should a medical marijuana dispensary be permitted adjacent to our healthcare facility,” he said. “The biggest concern is our youth being exposed to this. I know that the medical marijuana is only permitted to sell to age 21 and over, but diversion does occur just like it does with alcohol and tobacco.”

He also said he “feels a medical marijuana dispensary does not fit and is not consistent with this larger residential neighborhood."

Dulick said he bought the property last April, which is currently the site of Lightly Toasted, a vape shop owned by his son and a friend. However, he said that the business would relocate elsewhere if the dispensary is approved by the city and also receives a license from the state of Ohio.

“I think there's a little misunderstanding between medical [marijuana] and how that works and recreational — and this is not about recreational,” he said. “If the state of Ohio at some point down the road, years from now, passes a recreational thing, that would have to go through — I would assume — a whole separate thing. This is strictly for medical use. Nobody gets in without a medical card that's issued by a doctor.”

Commission member Jeff Clapper said Dulick has a right to apply for the conditional zoning based on the city’s zoning, but added he has questions about the proposed site plan.

“I don’t think the site plan is quite thorough,” he said, adding that the plan needs to include the specific dimensions of fencing enclosing a delivery area are needed so the commission also can know how much space is left for parking.

The state is set to award licenses for a limited number of dispensaries statewide on Jan. 27, according to Kent Community Development Director Bridget Susel.

"There's around five licenses that are issued for our region, which includes three counties," she said. "So we have Geauga, Lake and Portage counties in our region."

Do you have a business or healthcare story you'd like to share? Reporter Bob Gaetjens can be reached at 330-541-9440, bgaetjens@recordpub.com and @bobgaetjens_rc.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Neighbors of planned Kent marijuana dispensary not happy with location