Application first to be considered by board since Moran’s last term ended
During his two terms as a Sarasota County commissioner, Mike Moran routinely asked agents of companies seeking approval of medical marijuana dispensary plans if those companies’ leaders would vow not to sell recreational marijuana if the State of Florida made the drug legal.
For example, in late August 2019, after Tom Gretz of Orlando, the agent for Surterra Wellness, declined to assert that a facility proposed to stand at 7349 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota would continue in the medical marijuana business only, Moran cast the sole “No” vote on a motion to grant the Special Exception necessary for the business to operate at that site.
“No disrespect to the applicant,” Moran said that day, but “I’ve made it crystal clear how I feel about this. The medical [marijuana dispensary situation] is a Trojan horse.”
As a member of the County Commission, Moran continued, he felt he should “do everything within my power” to see that that the dispensaries did not transition into recreational marijuana retail shops.
The Surterra Wellness dispensary was the fourth to win board approval for operation in an unincorporated area of the county.
The final time that the commissioners approved a dispensary while Moran remained on the board was in December 2022, The Sarasota News Leader found during a review of its reports.
Then-Commissioner Nancy Detert pointed out that day, as she had during prior hearings on proposed dispensaries, that over 70% of Florida voters supported the state constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana.
During the December,ber 2022 hearing, which involved an application from The Flowery, Commissioner Joe Neunder emphasized that medical marijuana dispensaries are similar to pharmacies in that a person has to have a prescription from a medical doctor to obtain any of the products. A chiropractor, Neunder had just won election to the board in November 2022.
From Jan. 23, 2024 until July 8, the commissioners did not address any new applications for medical marijuana dispensaries. Moran had to step down from the board in November 2024 because of term limits.
On July 8, a public hearing on a Special Exception application for a medical marijuana dispensary that would stand at 2460 Stickney Point Road was placed on the agenda as a Presentation Upon Request, a designation by county staff indicating that the issue was not controversial. Any board member may ask for details related to such an agenda item, and public comments always are welcome. Nonetheless, the goal with creating Presentations Upon Request, county staff has explained, is to expedite the flow of commission meetings.
In the July 8 situation, no board member sought any information from staff or the applicant, and no member of the public had signed up to address the petition.
Commissioner Neunder, as chair of the board, closed the hearing and asked for a motion. Commissioner Mark Smith made it, calling for approval of the application, and Commissioner Tom Knight seconded it. The motion passed unanimously.
The petition had been submitted by VidaCann LLC of St. Johns, a county staff memo indicated. The company was proposing to lease 2,700 square feet “of an existing, vacant, two-suite commercial structure” from HW Properties Ltd. of St. Petersburg, the memo added. The Special Exception would apply only to Suite A, the memo said.
“The two suites are fully enclosed spaces separate from one another.”
The property is zoned Commercial General, the memo said.
Among the details in the lease, which was included in the company’s Special Exception application, was this note regarding the lessor’s permitted use of the property: “A medical cannabis dispensary (and, if permitted by state and local law, adult recreational use cannabis dispensary), any activity and ancillary uses related thereto, and retail sales of cannabis products permissible by applicable state and local (herein the ‘Permitted Use’). Tenant may change the Permitted Use if approved by Landlord in writing, which such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned, or delayed.”
The lease notes that VidaCann also operates under the name Planet 13.
An October 2024 letter from attorney Matthew Brockway, of the Icard Merrill firm in Sarasota — which was part of the application materials in the July 8 agenda packet — pointed out that the property where the dispensary will be located formerly was the site of Kirby’s Bar & Grill, which was destroyed by a fire in early 2021. Brockway added, “The building has since been repaired and/or reconstructed.”
The county staff memo noted, “No physical changes to the outside of the building or access are proposed.”
Additionally, the county staff report said, “While there will be heavier traffic volume generated, this will not affect the Gulf Gates Manor area directly as access [to the dispensary] is from Stickney Point Road.”
Among other details, the staff report noted, “The southeastern portion of the property abutting the homes in Gulf Gate Manor has a 6-foot-high cinderblock wall for fencing running the length of the property boundary. Along Stickney Point Road a 10-foot landscape buffer was installed between the existing sidewalk and the front façade of the building. There is no landscaping between the principal structure and the rear wall.”
Further, the staff report provided the following responses from VidaCann in regard to the compatibility of the dispensary with the area where it is planned and its consistency with the dispensary operating standards contained in Section 124-150(a) of the county’s Unified Development Code, which contains all of the county’s land-use and zoning regulations:
