Fairfax council approves medical cannabis storefront and waives 300-foot tutoring center buffer

The Fairfax Town Council voted 3-2 on Sept. 3 to approve a commercial cannabis business permit for a medical-use storefront and adult-use delivery business at 1601 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and to waive the town code's 300-foot buffer around tutoring centers.

The council's action followed a multi-month review, a unanimous planning commission recommendation and a public hearing with more than a dozen in-person and remote speakers both for and against the application. The resolution approving the permit also specifically waives the town code buffer that would otherwise prohibit medical storefront retailers within 300 feet of a tutoring center as defined in Fairfax Municipal Code section 17.110.020.

The planning staff and the applicant, Martin Kaufman, presented evidence and a large supplemental binder of business and security plans, a third-party traffic study, public-benefits commitments and a state permit application. Planning staff reported they had attempted multiple times to verify whether the nearby TLC Tutoring Center met the town-code definition of a tutoring center — which requires at least 10 clients receiving on-site instruction for at least 37 weeks a year — but staff said they had not received records or parent confirmations showing that on-site threshold. Town Attorney Janet Colson told the council that…