pendleton cannabis: Pendleton City Council voted 7-1 on June 23, 2026, to deny two appeals and allow Pendleton Stewards to open a retail cannabis store off Highway 11 in the Riverside area.
The council met in a special session to review appeals filed after the Pendleton Planning Commission approved the Conditional Use earlier this year. Councilors upheld the planning commission’s decision by a 7-1 margin; Councilor Steve Campbell cast the lone dissent. One appeal came from a neighboring property owner who cited the site’s proximity to a school bus stop. The second was filed by Erin Purchase, operator of Kind Leaf Pendleton, who said she would be a direct competitor to the proposed store.
Purchase and her attorney presented data they described as years of increased crime around the city’s four existing dispensaries. They listed incidents they said were tied to dispensary activity, including public intoxication, public urination, erratic behavior, occasional physical violence and the use of other drugs. Purchase asked the council to overturn the planning commission’s approval, arguing the applicant had not mitigated negative impacts.
City planning staff recommended the council deny the appeals. In a written report submitted to councilors before the hearing, staff concluded the applicant, Pendleton Stewards, met the specific criteria in city code for a Conditional Use permit. The report stated that the appellants’ concerns did not meet legal grounds to override the planning commission’s findings.
Councilor Brett Mulvihill said during the hearing that he had sought legal or code-based reasons to grant the appeals but found the arguments were largely driven by emotion rather than code deficiencies. “I’ve been looking for reasons to approve the appeal, but I can’t find any that aren’t emotion-based,” Mulvihill said.
Brandon Krenzler, owner of local restaurant Project Innerbloom and listed as the local owner of Pendleton Stewards, told the council the application satisfied every applicable standard in the land-use code. “A land-use decision must rest on the standards of the code it actually imposes,” Krenzler said. Property owner Scott Bartholomew also spoke in favor, saying the decision was about fairness and consistent application of law.
Although the council upheld the planning commission’s main findings, it altered one determination related to hours of operation and placed a condition that the business must return to the planning commission for review before any expansion of the building. Those are the only changes the council approved to the planning commission’s prior decision.
City officials noted that a citywide moratorium on new marijuana retailer applications remains in effect, but they said the Pendleton Stewards application was filed and advanced before the council adopted that moratorium. That timing allowed the application to proceed under the pre-moratorium review process.
The proposed location sits off Highway 11 in the Riverside area. Opponents emphasized proximity to a school bus stop as a specific safety concern; proponents emphasized that the permit review focused on zoning, traffic, setbacks, public safety plans and code compliance. Staff review included those factors and concluded conditions required by code would mitigate impacts the appellants raised.
The denial of the appeals clears a key local hurdle for Pendleton Stewards but does not finalize the business license or opening timeline. The council’s conditions—revised hours and a requirement to return for any expansion—remain in force. The applicant must still secure any remaining city permits and comply with state licensing for retail cannabis.
Pendleton now has four existing dispensaries, a number cited by opponents during the hearing when arguing for cumulative impacts. City staff and proponents countered that existing regulatory tools and site-specific conditions address those impacts and that the applicant met the ordinance thresholds for approval.
Next steps: Pendleton Stewards will proceed with final permitting and state licensing. If the business proposes to expand its building footprint in the future, the project must go back before the planning commission for additional review, per the council’s motion. The council did not set a new date for the store’s opening.
Council action on June 23 provides a concrete example of how pre-moratorium applications continue through local review and how appeals are evaluated against written code standards rather than community sentiment alone.
