On July 14, 2025, the Alcoholic Beverage & Cannabis Administration (ABCA) held a roll call hearing on the application of Clinical Health & Wellness to open a medical cannabis shop at 4942 South Dakota Avenue NE in North Michigan Park. The property sits in ANC 5A08. ANC Commissioner Elaine Alston (5A08) represented the ANC at the roll call hearing.

By order dated July 16, 2025, the ABCA Board dismissed ANC 5A’s protest. The Board’s order states, “A review of the protest criteria versus the issues claimed by the ANC show that the initial protest lacks sufficient specificity under the law to proceed to a protest.” The order is just a few pages, well worth reading.

See ABCA Board Order Dismissing ANC 5A Protest Against Clinical Health & Wellness (July 16, 2025)

(During an ANC meeting, a couple of us tried to tell the ANC what they needed to include in a resolution, but they did not listen and here we are.)

ABCA also does not know what they are doing though. ABCA (maybe erroneously) issued an initial placard dated April 18, 2025. They rescinded that placard and readvertised a new one dated May 9, 2025, but they neglected to update the text of the notice. While the summary of the hearing information in the readvertised placard was updated with the new hearing dates, the text of the readvertised notice still listed the old hearing dates. On July 18, 2025, after the July 14th roll call hearing and July 16th Board decision, ABCA decided to issue a “corrected” notice with the correct hearing dates in the text of the notice.

In any case, at an emergency meeting on July 16, the ANC voted to spend ANC funds to retain counsel to seek reinstatement of the protest and to apply for a technical assistance grant from the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (OANC).