Ross commissioners tabled a motion to approve a former Steeler’s medical marijuana dispensary after concerns were raised about its proximity to a popular laser tag facility during their Feb. 18 meeting.
The proposed dispensary would be at 7725 McKnight Road, where G&G Fitness Equipment currently sits. That would place it next to Laser Storm, which has occupied its location for 29 years.
The laser tag facility’s owner, John Mator, said his potential new neighbor would almost certainly harm his business, which mostly caters to young children.
Mator said he was not informed of the new dispensary until just before the meeting that could have approved it.
While dispensaries are prohibited from being within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers, places of worship and parks, Ross Solicitor P.J. Murray said that exclusion does not apply to family entertainment centers.
The applicant for the dispensary, former Steelers guard David DeCastro, said the facility would be “very secure” and “run like a pharmacy.” DeCastro spent nine seasons with the Steelers from 2012 to 2020.
DeCastro said he held the proper permits, and his business would employ an armed security guard and be continuously monitored by cameras.
He pointed out that a vape shop currently sits two doors down from Laser Storm. A CBD store, which also sells marijuana derivatives, occupies a nearby building as well.
Dominic Rickert, Ross’ director of community development, said the dispensary meets zoning requirements. Without “compelling evidence” of harm to health, public safety or welfare of residents, Murray said the commissioners lack a reason to deny the application.
Still, Mator said he is worried about clientele. He said schools and youth groups frequently make recreational visits to his business, and he is concerned he would lose out on business with a large medical marijuana facility next door.
No legal mandate would keep schools from continuing to send students to Laser Storm if the new dispensary were approved, according to Murray. Decisions like that, he said, would be institutional.
“I believe the spirit of this law is to keep the dispensaries away from impressionable young children, and that is my primary customer base — impressionable young children,” Mator said.
Two dispensaries, Zen Leaf and Organic Remedies Dispensary, already exist on McKnight Road in Ross. The township’s deputy police chief, Brian Kohlhepp, said his department has had no significant problems with either business.
The marijuana business, DeCastro said, is “new to him,” but at the meeting he said he “viewed it as medicine.” He declined to comment about the commissioners’ move to table the approval.
DeCastro is listed as a strategic investor of Whole Plants LLC, a marijuana company, in addition to other former Steelers such as Ben Roethlisberger and Bud Dupree.
Ross Commissioners President Dan DeMarco said the approval will be discussed at the township’s March 3 meeting.