A cannabis retail store proposed for Los Alamos received the unanimous approval from the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission last week after questions about traffic, parking and more.

An Irvine company has proposed opening the Haven cannabis store at 520 Bell St. (Highway 135). Consumption won’t be allowed on site. 

The applicant proposed a 3,139-square-foot building to house a cannabis retail dispensary on a now vacant lot. The store would operate from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with security, check-in and limited-access areas.

Commissioners complimented the applicant on the building, designed by Greg Ravatt from Ravatt Albrecht & Associates Inc.

“I think it could certainly be a benchmark for people in Los Alamos looking to upgrade their structures,” Fourth District Commissioner Roy Reed said.

“It definitely has a Los Alamos feel to it. I like it,” said Chair John Parke, who represents the Third District.

The Los Alamos Depot Bar sits across the wide Bell Street, which has limited lighting, raising concerns about pedestrian safety.

“I think you’re going to get a lot of jaywalking back and forth between the Depot and your store. I just wonder if anybody in this room has thought about the safety aspects of that?” Parke asked. 

Since Bell also is Highway 135, applicants worked with Caltrans about possible changes. 

“Caltrans opted not to allow anything on there. Even if we wanted to, it’s up to Caltrans to do it,” said David Swenk from Urban Planning Concepts.

He said engineers assesses traffic volumes in deciding what other measures might be needed.

“Because you’re right there’s going to be increased foot traffic and we’ve all seen it in Los Alamos,” Swenk said.

“Well, Los Alamos isn’t too big with crosswalks across Bell Street is it?” Parke said, adding that he had lingering concerns about increased foot traffic across Bell, especially in the dark.

No on-site parking is planned, but there is on-street parking in the area, county staff said.

A larger multi-tenant building previously had been approved for the site, but Haven decided to reduce the size so the facility only houses the dispensary, a consultant said. 

Haven’s John Hernandez said most customers visits would last about 10 minutes. 

Haven has nine dispensaries in two states, with plans to also open a store in Oxnard in the future.

Santa Barbara County regulations allow one cannabis retail dispensary per each of the six community planning areas with applicants ranked to pick the winners. 

That means dispensaries can be located in Isla Vista/Goleta, Santa Ynez, Los Alamos, Orcutt, Toro Canyon/Summerland and Eastern Goleta Valley. 

So far, only the Farmacy stores on Madera Drive in Santa Ynez and Pardall Road in the Isla Vista area have opened, county staff said. 

The item on the Los Alamos dispensary did not draw any public comments at last week’s meeting, but some dispensaries have drawn strong opposition.

“It just struck me there’s been inconsistent public involvement for the different sites” Parke said, adding that it wasn’t a complaint but an observation.