Hayward Planning Commission recommends denial of conditional use permit for Foothill cannabis dispensary

The Hayward Planning Commission voted 5–1 (one recusal) on Sept. 25 to recommend that the City Council deny a conditional use permit application to open a commercial cannabis retail dispensary at 21463 Foothill Boulevard.

Staff described the proposal as a request to retenant a vacant, roughly 15,000-square-foot former Walgreens space within a 22,000-square-foot shopping center on a site of about 1.3 acres. Senior Planner Steve Kowalski told commissioners the project met the city’s zoning rules for a retail dispensary and was found to be categorically exempt from CEQA under State CEQA Guidelines section 15301 (existing facilities). The applicant, identified in the staff report as Esther Lopez and Engelbert Sysakas of Green Enterprises Inc. doing business as Fino’s Hayward, was represented in the hearing by retail operations staff from Phenos of Hayward.

Kowalski outlined operational controls proposed in the conditional use permit: daily hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; no on‑site consumption or delivery; a minimum of three employees per shift; two licensed security guards on site during business hours; interior and exterior IP cameras with monitoring and at least 90 days of retained footage; a professionally monitored alarm; and procedures for storing and disposing cannabis waste and for secure…