The Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA) met virtually on December 1, where they approved a proposal for 3995-3997 Washington St. in Roslindale to convert a former convenience store to an adult use cannabis dispensary. The store will be owned by Boston resident Brian Chavez.
Attorney Mike Ross said the space is 1320 square feet with additional space in the basement for storage, and customers would enter the building from the rear and exit from the corner of Archdale Road and Washington Street. He said the proposed hours for the dispensary are 9am to 8pm, seven days a week, which has been approved by the Boston Cannabis Board.
ZBA Chair Christine Araujo asked how any potential line ups outside the building would occur.
Ross said that the dispensary operators “would want to limit” any queuing through the use of technology, adding that more and more people are ordering online for other dispensaries, and not just because of COVID-19.
He said that “as more and more of these appear in Boston,” they will be more like neighborhood corner stores or liquor stores, and will not draw in large numbers of people from other neighborhoods because there will be many options throughout the city.
He said that “there are not a lot of outside people in the neighborhood,” and “not a lot of transients” who come to Roslindale, so there is no anticipation of large crowds coming to this shop once it opens. “Here is a much smaller, neighborhood kind of shop,” Ross said.
“We have to have a very good relationship with Boston police as well,” he added, saying that the dispensary will “start slow” with “lots of supervision” and “lots of engagement with police. Within a very short period of time we’ll have a feel for the volumes and the type of activity we’re going to see there,” he said.
The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services was in support of the project, as were two other Boston residents. No one spoke in opposition of the project at the hearing, and the ZBA voted to approve the project for this applicant only and required BPDA design review as part of the approval. One ZBA member voted against the motion.