The agreement to preserve the spring that gave House Springs its last name has cleared another hurdle.
The Jefferson County Council unanimously approved a conditional-use permit for a medical marijuana dispensary to be built on a 1.06-acre parcel at 3 Walters Place off Hwy. MM near Hwy. 30 in House Springs.
Nirvana Bliss III LLC of Fenton, run by Bernard Goethe, had received state approval for the dispensary and had applied to the county’s Planning Department for a required conditional-use permit for the undeveloped lot.
However, the county could not approve the permit because its zoning order prohibits medical marijuana facilities from being located within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare center, church or public park. The area with the spring, which had been considered a county park since 2008, falls well within that radius.
To get around that problem, the Jefferson County Council voted unanimously at its Nov. 23 meeting to sell for $10 the 0.83-acre property that includes the spring to a nonprofit group of surrounding businesses.
That group, which has registered with the state as House Springs Preservation Inc., in turn has agreed to allow the Northwest Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce to maintain the area.
That agreement with the chamber will take effect only if Goethe is able to secure an extension from the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services, which gave approval for a dispensary in late January. Those approved were given one year to open and pass a state inspection.
Danny Tuggle, president of the chamber, said it will assume control of House Springs Preservation once the dispensary clears all county and state approvals – a process he said could take months.
The council’s action to approve the conditional-use permit was one of the obstacles.
“I am glad we got past this part,” said Councilman Jim Terry (District 7, Cedar Hill), whose district includes the area. “He still has to get the extension from the state, though.”
Terry had said before the council gave preliminary approval to the transfer that he would not continue to support it unless control of the property would fall to a local group, and the chamber stepped up.
The conditional-use permit included an amendment Terry proposed that would ensure the building that Goethe will put up be aesthetically pleasing on all sides.
“Because it’s going to have to be elevated out of the floodway (of Dulin Creek), shop owners in the Jefferson Eagle Plaza (east of the Walters Place development) were afraid they’d be looking at a trailer on stilts,” Terry said. “We just want it to look decent.”
Goethe is proposing a building that would have a 2,348-square-foot area to house the dispensary and an adjacent 2,645-square foot area that could be rented out.
Under terms of the conditional-use permit, the dispensary can be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, cannot have a drive-thru window, and must have a closed-circuit television security system and a fireproof vault or safe to store cash, as well as a fire-protected secure room to store product.
When the Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission heard testimony on the conditional-use permit on Dec. 10, Jim Smoot, the developer of Jefferson Eagle Plaza, said he was afraid the back of the dispensary would be unsightly to businesses in his shopping center.
“This should take care of all that,” Terry said.
The P and Z board voted 4-0 to recommend approval of the conditional-use permit, with Tuggle, who is also a planning commissioner, abstaining.
That board advises the County Council on land-use issues in unincorporated parts of the county.
Tuggle has said Paul Taylor, who developed the Walters Place shopping center, has agreed to donate $10,000 a year for five years to make improvements to the area and about $3,400 a year to maintain the property.