Provided he negotiates a host agreement with the Westport Select Board, an Uxbridge man has almost all he needs to open Westport’s second recreational use marijuana store on State Road.

Members of the Westport Planning Board last week unanimously voted to grant a special permit to Salty Breeze Inc., which plans to open a dispensary at 260 State Road, directly next door to the town’s first and only similar facility, Coastal Healing at 248 State Road. They also voted unanimously to grant several site plan approval.

Though there are other matters to be worked out, including code review and final state approvals, board members said they are satisfied that the store’s plan fits with Westport and should be approved.

“They meet all of our requirements,” member Manny Soares said. “We zoned this area for this one additional use in town. It ... rehabilitates a distressed piece of property (and) I think it’s a good plan.”

“It’s always welcome to have a business in town,” added planning board member Mark Schmid.

Brian Carney, of Salty Breeze Inc., who owns a marijuana dispensary in Uxbridge, first sought approval before the town in August 2022. Though he did not speak last week, Carney said at a previous meeting that he plans to call the business "Port Supply" in homage to the town's maritime history.

"The aesthetic theme of this location is very much going to tie into the maritime theme of this town," he said.

The recreational marijuana retail industry is facing hard times, with some smaller area stores closing down in the face of increasing competition. But at a previous planning meeting, Carney said he believes his business can weather that storm due to the quality he said he will build into it:

"It really comes down to the quality of the business plan," he said. "The advantage we have here ... is that there is a higher car count (traffic) than, say, where my dispensary is in Uxbridge. With our somewhat unique business model we'll be able to pull a lot of our customers from Fall River and New Bedford."

Planning board members said last week that precisely due to the toughening of the business model, they don’t believe the shop will have an untoward effect on traffic along the state highway. Coastal Healing has about 25 unique visits per hour, member Robert Daylor said, and “this is a relatively low impact.”

“If the trend in marijuana stores continues, probably another 25 trips (per hour) is generous.”

Board members also seemed pleased that the planning process has gone smoothly, though the project has been before the town for nearly two years:

Coastal Healing “was about 49 meetings over 17 years, with tremendous fear that this was going to be the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Route 6,” Bullard quipped. “None of that came to pass. And so now we’re in the land of reality thanks to the experience that Coastal Healing has provided.”