GUILDERLAND — A pot shop is being proposed on the site of a former Western Avenue ice-cream parlor.

Jason Southwood of Albany is seeking permission to convert the former seasonally-operated Cone Zone at 2028 Western Ave. to a year-round retail cannabis dispensary. 

The shop location is zoned Local Business District, but backs onto a residential neighborhood. 

Guilderland had a retail shop — which was first a medical dispensary — in Stuyvesant Plaza’s Executive Park that has since pulled up stakes and moved to a spot in Colonie. 

The proposal has been before the town’s planning board twice, most recently on April 9, at which time the board signed off on the project’s site plan and passed on its recommendations to the zoning board, the lead agency for the proposal. 

The project initially proposed a gazebo and outdoor sitting area, which were not seen as favorable proposals by the board and subsequently did not appear on the April 9 site plan approved by the board. 

The planning board also raised the issue of the proposed shop’s location in relation to its residential neighbors. The town code calls for a 40-foot buffer between the property line of the proposed business use and any nearby residences, but it was unclear to the board if the Cone Zone had received a variance or if that detail was missed when the ice-cream shop was approved. 

The board ultimately approved the site plan, recommending that the zoning board:

 — Address the 40-foot buffer requirement between the local business zone and the residential district; 

 — Have the building department clarify compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for handicapped parking spaces;

 — Consider having a dumpster moved out of the 40-foot buffer area and locating it closer to the building;

 — Consider having the dumpster enclosed; and

 — Have Southwood provide directional signs for entering and exiting as part of the access plan.