For second time, Charlestown man wins zoning approval for local pot shop, but this time without partners

The Zoning Board of Appeal today unanimously approved plans by Jack Kelly III of Charlestown to open a dispensary at 31 Cambridge St., a short distance from an existing dispensary.

Kelly needed a variance from the zoning board because his proposed Charlestown Cannabis would be roughly 1,500 feet from Nike John's Heritage Club at 116 Cambridge St., and Boston's increasingly irrelevant marijuana buffer-zone requirement calls for a half-mile distance between marijuana businesses.

The zoning board actually approved an earlier proposal by Kelly and some partners in 2021 to open a shop in what is now a long vacant former restaurant, with a different name and an emphasis on medical marijuana sales. At the time, he and partner Dot Joyce said the medical-marijuana sales would differentiate them from Heritage Club's strictly recreational sales.

For whatever reasons - Kelly and his attorney, Patrick Sweeney, did not specify today - that effort did not pan out. Earlier this year, Kelly formed a new company to try to win a license for the space, which has been vacant for more than two decades .

At today's hearing, Kelly said the difference between his concern and John's would not be medical uses, but that John focuses on widespread sales - she has 17 registers and offers home delivery - while Kelly would run a specialty "boutique" with just four registers and no home delivery.

Kelly, a Townie, had the support of the neighborhood's elected officials as well as several local groups, according to Sweeney and the Office of Neighborhood Services' Charlestown liaison. The proposal now goes to the state Cannabis Control Commission for its approval.

Sweeney said the store's entrance would be completely separate from the entrance for residential units in the building above the proposed shop.