Pot shop needs City Council approval to open in the Bread Store’s midtown spot

A dispensary planning to relocate to the Bread Store’s spot in midtown will now need City Council approval before opening.

The Planning and Design Commission last week approved the shop, but then the owner of the property next door filed an appeal with the city Thursday.

The council may consider the item in February, city planner Robby Thacker said.

The dispensary, Safe Accessible Solutions, plans to open next year at 1716 J St., relocating from an industrial area in south Sacramento where it’s been open for about five years.

Jeff Berger filed the appeal Thursday on behalf of the LLC that owns the adjacent property at 1722 J St., which appears to be vacant, under a trust.

The dispensary will decrease property values and create parking issues in the area, Berger said.

“We’re just finishing a $2 million renovation, and I lost a lease a week and a half ago because the possibility that the next door neighbor might be a cannabis dispensary, so to me, the value of my property has already gone down,” Berger told the commission last week.

The shop does not need on-site parking because the parcel is under 6,400 square feet, a city staff report recommending the project said.

The parcel is actually 6,490 square feet, the appeal said.

That requirement is not exact, though, which is why the city did not require the Bread Store to have on-site parking either, Thacker said.

The dispensary owners plan to open it for medical and recreational sales daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and to submit a plan for exterior improvements to the site within six months, representatives told the commission.