On-site pot use permit approved

Another cannabis business looking to create an on-site consumption lounge is headed for Old Town in Eureka after winning the planning commission’s unanimous approval.

Bryan Robinson, a Humboldt County resident and president of local cannabis grow Hygro, will set up shop on the 500 block of Fifth Street “when we’re done with all the COVID stuff,” he said at the Eureka Planning Commission meeting on Monday.

“We’re willing to put some time and effort to fixing up the building,” Robinson said. “We’re looking forward to spiffing it up and getting businesses back downtown.”

The business will join a growing list of retail pot storefronts in Eureka. The city has approved other on-site consumption lounges — intended to be bars for smoking and consuming cannabis — but none have yet opened to the public.

Robinson said he’s looking forward to “healthy competition” with other cannabis dispensaries, noting that customers want multiple options when they go shopping.

“Having on-site consumption in such an inviting area is something we’re really looking forward to,” he said. “We’re going for more of the restaurant setting so it’s not just limited to a quick ‘in and out.’ People can stay and enjoy themselves.”

The applicant received support from local pot industry colleagues during the commission’s public comment period. But one business owner who operates on the same block of Fifth Street pushed back against granting the permit.

Rick Gaube, who runs the Domino’s Pizza branch in Eureka, said he supports his cannabis neighbors but noted that most businesses nearby don’t last for more than a year.

“I understand why the city would want to have one less boarded-up business,” Gaube wrote to the commission in a letter read aloud during the meeting. “All that being said, I don’t believe the 500 block (of Fifth Street) in Eureka should be the mecca of the cannabis industry … for our quaint seaside town.”

Commissioner Jeff Ragan noted at the meeting that the commission’s role is to make sure developments uphold existing city policies, not make judgments on the

law itself.

Other on-site consumption lounges are holding off indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, especially since emergency local and state policies forbid close contact with other individuals.

EcoCann, a pot dispensary on F Street, had planned to open its lounge on April 20, but store manager Ray Markland said Tuesday he doesn’t think it will happen any time soon.

“I’m not really sure what people are thinking allocating more funds to it right now, but I wish them good luck,” Markland said of the business that won the commission’s approval Monday. “It’s definitely a turbulent time for everybody.”