By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

(Sept. 3, 2026) A proposed cannabis dispensary in Pocomoke City has cleared another round of local review, with its operator hoping to begin construction this fall and open early next year.

The city’s Planning Commission voted unanimously Aug. 27 to recommend approval of plans to convert the long-vacant former Plaza Tapatia restaurant at 1621 Ocean Highway.

The proposal will next go before the city council for site-plan approval later this month. Building and sign permits would still be required afterward.

Kalpesh Shah, CEO of Guru Ventures, the company behind the Pocomoke proposal, told commissioners the dispensary would employ about 30 people. It would be the sixth Maryland dispensary he has helped build and his first on the Eastern Shore.

“We’re planning on starting construction possibly sometime this fall and be open by sometime quarter one of 2027,” Shah said.

Architect Heather Morrison of Fisher Architecture presented plans to salvage the long-vacant building through a major exterior renovation.

Renderings show its red roofs replaced with black ones, gray siding added to the front gable, and the weathered façade redone in shades of gray, black, and white. So far, no interior plans have been finalized.

The existing parking lot, entrances, and exterior lighting would largely remain. Morrison said the site plan preserves room for a possible drive-through lane, although no drive-through is currently proposed.

Plans also call for a 42-inch black aluminum fence around much of the property, a screened trash enclosure, and two additional accessible parking spaces.

Built in 1988, the roughly 9,500-square-foot building has been vacant since 2013. Before Plaza Tapatia, it housed a Bonanza Steakhouse.

Much of the commission’s discussion focused on security. Shah said dispensaries use electronic locks to control who can enter, with multiple secured doors inside. Protective film makes exterior doors and windows harder to break through.

State regulations also require cannabis products to be secured in a vault within an hour after closing, he said. Surveillance must operate continuously, with 60 days of footage stored on-site.

“In my existing stores, we have about 52 cameras per store,” Shah said. “That covers every square inch of the entire facility from inside and outside.”

Planning Commissioner Nola Tullar also asked about the dispensary’s likely customers. Shah said there was no typical demographic, with customers ranging from young adults to people in their 90s. Pediatric medical cannabis patients also visit dispensaries with their parents, he said.

“I have people that are 95 years old that shop in my stores, and I have people that just turned 21,” Shah said.

Maryland dispensaries served only medical patients until recreational sales to adults began in July 2023. Shah said medical cannabis patients still account for about one in four customers at his existing stores.

The project is tied to Worcester County’s only remaining conditional dispensary license, issued to Shreif Shata. The Maryland Cannabis Administration recently granted a 12-month extension to begin operating, Shah told the commission.

The applicants previously sought zoning relief from Pocomoke City’s requirement that dispensaries remain at least 500 feet from houses of worship and several other protected uses. The property lies 325 feet from New Beginnings Outreach Ministries when measured from the nearest property corners.

The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals granted that relief in a 3–1 vote July 1. Several residents had opposed the request, raising concerns about the location, access to cannabis and the lack at that time of a completed site plan.

Worcester County currently has two cannabis dispensaries, both in West Ocean City. The Pocomoke location would become the county’s third and join 123 storefront dispensaries now operating statewide, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration.