PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The town of Princess Anne recently approved a building permit for a cannabis dispensary to take up shop in town.

This would be the first dispensary in Somerset County.

Many people we spoke with Wednesday were in favor of a cannabis dispensary coming to town.

“I think any business in Princess Anne is a good idea, especially one that generates the kind of revenue that a dispensary would,” said Rob West.

“I was hoping for something different to be located there,” said another Princess Anne resident.

“I think this is something very good that’s about to happen for everybody in this area,” said Thomas Welch.

The dispensary, Kindequity LLC, will set up shop in the former Peaky’s and Bubby’s building on Mount Vernon Road in Princess Anne.

“I’m extremely excited to bring our business to Somerset County,” said Sherri Davis, Kindequity LLC Owner. “It’s a small town, we’re a small business and we’re looking forward to what the future has to bring.”

Recently, a circuit court judge ordered the town to approve the cannabis dispensary, as well as issue a building permit and zoning certificate so it can begin renovations.

“Cannabis is a controversial topic, but it’s been around 10 years in Maryland, so a lot of the controversy comes from the media,” said Chris Weimer, Kindequity LLC General Manager, “there’s really not a lot of controversy, there’s naysayers everywhere but we’ve gotten mostly support from a lot of people, a lot of support we’ve seen from the community.”

Weimer said any concerns the community has should be quelled.

“In fact 58% of people in Somerset County voted in favor of adult use cannabis in 2022, so we know the support is here,” he said. “A lot of the people are traveling all the way to Worcester County to get their cannabis, we know there’s a need for it to be here in Somerset County.”

Weimer said Kindequity LLC met with a contractor Wednesday to determine the scope of renovations and the timeline for the project.

“People that don’t shop at dispensaries, which are all over Maryland a lot of times don’t even know they are there,” he said. “We hear that all the time in places like Worcester County and Wicomico County, you drive around, you don’t know there’s a dispensary in town, you’re not shopping here you probably don’t even realize it’s here and that’s going to be the case here, it’s not really a concern we don’t think.”

We reached out to the Princess Anne town manager and he provided a statement saying, “The Court found that the Town zoning code as it stood at the time of the application, contemplated a cannabis dispensary as a permitted usage in the desired location. To the end, the Town is currently in full compliance with the Order of the Court.”

Weimer said Kindequity LLC hopes to be operational as soon as possible.