Northeast Community Council board member asks Anchorage Assembly to reject Muldoon marijuana store permit

A Northeast Community Council board member is asking the Anchorage Assembly to reject a resolution that would allow a third marijuana retail store on Muldoon Road, set to operate inside an existing auto glass and tire shop. The resolution, AR 2026-225, would grant Baltazar Holdings LLC, doing business as Sensimilla, a marijuana license and special land use permit for the site. The Assembly held a public hearing on the measure Tuesday, Aug. 4.

David Weber, an NECC board member, emailed Assembly members two days before the hearing. "I respectfully request that you REJECT the request for the special land use permit in its current form," Weber wrote.

Weber described the site at 1431 Muldoon Road as a congested lot with fewer than 10 parking spaces shared with an active tire shop and car wash, near an intersection he said already carries one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the city. He also cited incomplete landscaping and noted the application references a $30 million investment. He said the store would be the third marijuana retailer on Muldoon Road and the sixth in or near Northeast Anchorage. He said it sits roughly 500 feet from Chanshtnu-Muldoon Park, and that only six people attended the applicant's April 13 community meeting. He wrote that NECC members rejected a proposed memorandum of understanding with the applicant 38 to 51 in March 2025, though counsel had asserted the in-person vote was tied 34 to 34, leaving the tally contested.

Assembly member Anna Brawley offered a different account. She said she has known the applicant since he started his business and called him "a very ethical person" who is "a great asset to the community for redevelopment." She said the council had originally supported his operation before reversing course after he lost investors, and that planning review found his business meets the required distance from the park. "I recommend you guys support his business," she said.

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's administration also recommended approval. Reviewing agencies did not object, and the Planning Department received two public comments in opposition after mailing 539 hearing notices on July 1.

The resolution attaches conditions to the 1,508-square-foot store, which proposes hours of 8 a.m. to midnight daily. It would have to close to the public overnight, keep odor undetectable at the lot line, and file a parking plan with Traffic Engineering before opening.

At the Assembly's July 21 meeting, member George Martinez introduced a resolution asking the administration to review where cannabis businesses may locate. "There are a lot of folks there who feel like our part of the community has been targeted more than other parts," he said.