Letter urges Anchorage Assembly to apply the 'same rules' to Muldoon dispensary application

Les Gara asked the Anchorage Assembly to approve a marijuana retail license for Baltazar Arias on the same terms other Anchorage dispensaries have received. Gara's letter, a character reference now part of the Assembly's file on the application, argues for equal treatment under existing rules.

Arias has owned and operated Baltazar's Tire Shop in Anchorage for 25 years and employs more than a dozen Anchorage residents, Gara wrote. Arias has been a U.S. citizen for 37 years and raised two children with his wife, Patricia. Both children graduated from Anchorage public schools. Gara said he has known Arias for roughly a decade, as a friend and through the tire shop. Gara wrote that he was writing in part because Arias "might not have all the polished public presentation skills as some other Anchorage residents who learned English as their first language."

"I hope the Assembly will approve his application as long as it falls within the same rules that have resulted in license approvals for similar businesses," Gara wrote in the letter, dated Aug. 3. He added that he is not writing because he knows each requirement for a license. "That is something Assembly members know better than I do."

The application is for Baltazar Holdings, LLC, doing business as Sensimilla, a 1,508 square foot retail store proposed inside the existing tire and auto glass shop at 1431 Muldoon Road. The Anchorage Planning Department recommended approval subject to conditions, including a Title 21-compliant parking plan and odor control keeping marijuana undetectable at the lot line. The proposal would bar the store from operating between midnight and 8 a.m.

Anchorage marijuana businesses go through two layers of review. Applicants must obtain a state license through the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office before the municipality will accept a municipal application. The Assembly must then approve the municipal license and a special land use permit under Anchorage Municipal Code 21.03.105.

The resolution, AR 2026-225, was set for a public hearing at the Assembly's Aug. 4 meeting as Item 15.D. Records available for this account do not show the Assembly's final action on the item.

The file also contains opposition from David Weber, a Northeast Community Council board member, who asked the Assembly to reject the permit. Weber cited traffic safety at Debarr and Muldoon roads and the number of nearby stores. The proposed shop would be the third marijuana retailer on Muldoon Road and the sixth in Northeast Anchorage. Weber also argued that mandatory separation distances tied to another retailer at this location could limit where the area could later site childcare centers or recreation facilities. He questioned whether the applicant's reported $30 million investment in the project would be better directed toward community-serving uses.

Gara's letter does not take up Weber's traffic, retailer-density or land-use objections. It argues instead for equal treatment under the rules, pointing to Arias' citizenship, family, business history, employment of Anchorage residents and record of following the law.