HomeMy WebLinkAbout20230771 75 Weibel Special Use Permit NarrativeJoshua Silver
Attorney at Law
89 Court Street
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
August 28, 2023
Planning Board
474 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Re: Excelsior Cannabis, LLC (“Excelsior”)
Proposed Marijuana Establishment at 75 Weibel Ave
Dear Planning Board Members
This letter is to provide the board with an overview of Excelsior’s proposed plan to open a retail
adult-use cannabis retail establishment at 75 Weibel Ave, Suite #2 in Saratoga Springs (the
“Unit”). The Unit consists of approximately 1,250 square feet of interior space within a
commercial building located on a .6 acre parcel. The property is located with the NC zoning
district that permits a marijuana use upon receipt of a Special Use Permit from the Planning Board.
In accordance with Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”) rules, the unit is not located within
500 feet of an existing school, nor 200 feet from an existing religious institution.
As shown on the site plan, proposed site improvements are limited to: (1) utilizing undeveloped
adjacent parcels (166.-2-30 and 166.-2-2), which are under common ownership with the primary
parcel, for additional parking; and (2) extending an existing sidewalk on Weibel Ave along the
southern edge of the building. Insofar as the proposed site improvements do not involve the
alteration of any exterior portions of the building and may otherwise be considered by the Planning
Board as part of the Special Permit review, it is respectfully requested that the board waive Site
Plan review pursuant to Sec. 13-4(D)(1)(d) of the UDO.
The Unit will be adapted for use as an adult-use cannabis retail storefront. Because the prior use
of the Unit was for retail, no interior improvements are required except for the installation of a
security system. In that regards the security system shall consist of:
(1) A perimeter alarm that communicates with an internal designee and a third-party
commercial central monitoring station when intrusion is detected;
(2) Video camera surveillance in all areas that may contain cannabis products, all
surveillance areas or rooms and at all points of entry and exit, and in any parking lot,
which shall be appropriate for the normal lighting conditions of the area under
surveillance.
(3) A failure notification system that provides text alerts to the applicant with five minutes
of a system outage; and
(4) An electrical back-up that can operate the security system for not less than 8 hours in
the event of a blackout.
In addition to the security system, the applicant will insure that the establishment is operated in a
safe and secure manner in accordance with OCM rules. In particular the applicant will adopt
standard operating procedures that include:
(1) Procedures to prevent persons under the age of 21 from entering the establishment;
(2) Anti-Diversion procedures including implementation of seed-to-sale inventory
tracking.
(3) Establishment of controlled access areas where customers are not permitted to enter;
(4) Requiring all marijuana and marijuana products will be sold in pre-packaged tamper-
proof and child-proof containers.
The applicant proposes operating hours from 10am-8pm, seven days a week. The business will
employ approximately 15 individuals in total which shall include a general manager, two assistant
mangers, retail sales clerks and security personnel. At peak hours the applicant expects that 5
employees will be on-site.
Thank you kindly for your review of this letter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate
to contact me.
Very Truly Yours,
josh@agtherapeutics.com