Vallejo Planning Commission asked to approve cannabis business inside old Food 4 Less

by John Glidden | March 13, 2021

VALLEJO – A 50,000 square foot building which was on the city’s short list to become the next Vallejo police headquarters may be home to a new cannabis business instead.

The Vallejo Planning Commission will meet on Monday to decide on a major use permit to transform the old Food 4 Less grocery store into a retail cannabis storefront.

KOLAboration Ventures, which operates multiple cannabis businesses throughout the Bay Area, including Rio Vista, and Contra Costa County, has plans to open V-Town Farms in the Meadows Plaza Shopping Center.

Martin Wesley, president of V-Town Farms, told JohnGlidden.com that the new business is expected to create numerous living wage jobs and provide $2 million in taxes to the city.

He also confirmed that the cannabis business purchased the run-down shopping center about seven months ago.

“It was filled with blight, trash, and was a public safety issue,” Wesley said. “Since then, we added 24-hour security and it’s clean over there.”

To operate in the city of Vallejo, HTP Group, one of the city’s 11 existing retail cannabis businesses, has agreed to transfer its permit to Kolaboration Vallejo, LLC, which is doing business as V-Town Farms, city staff said.

There will be no increase in the number of cannabis businesses in Vallejo, staff added.

V-Town Farms is expecting to occupy about 19,000 square feet of the building – with a bulk of the space, 17,056, being used for retail. Cannabis distribution will use 1,485 feet, with manufacturing occupying 494 square feet of floor area for “non-volatile processes to manufacture infused pre-rolls, cannabis beverages, and flower.”

Cannabis cultivation is not being proposed as part of the application. The remaining 30,000 square feet of the building will not be used as part of the cannabis business.

The once thriving shopping center started to suffer after Walmart closed in 2007, followed by Food 4 Less in 2016.

Wesley said plans for the shopping center include adding a Loard’s Ice Cream parlor, and coffee shop. He said there are no immediately plans for the old Walmart store. He did say, however, that it could be transformed into a grocery store, or new housing.

The special meeting of the Vallejo Planning Commission will being at 6 p.m., via teleconference.

Members of the public wishing to address the Planning Commission on the V-Town Farms application may do so via ZOOM (https://ZoomRegular.Cityofvallejo.net), or via phone, by
dialing (669) 900-6833. Enter Meeting ID: 914 0075 0676#. Press *9 to digitally raise your hand from the phone.

For additional instructions on how to speak during public comment, visit, http://www.cityofvallejo.net/publiccomment.

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