An Uxbridge, Ma. man who hopes to open a cannabis dispensary on State Road appeared for the second time before the Westport Planning Board earlier this month, and is expected to move ahead with a full application in the near future.

Brian Carney, who owns the Green 'N Go cannabis dispensary in Uxbridge, said he hopes to set up shop in a vacant storefront at 60 State Road. The 2,200 square foot building is next door to the Coastal Healing dispensary, currently Westport's only other retail marijuana establishment.

Carney, of Salty Breeze Inc., said he hopes to open his "Port Supply" dispensary pending town and state approvals. The proposed store's name, he said, "pays homage" to the town's maritime history.

"The aesthetic theme of this location is very much going to tie into the maritime theme of this town," he said.

No official action was taken at the recent meeting, as Carney, as he first did last August, appeared before the board on an informal basis to gauge any potential issues that might need to be addressed.

Board members questioned Carney about parking, access, sidewalks, traffic, the building's condition and also why he wants to open up next door to Coastal Healing. Several members commented that they have heard that area dispensary business is down, with the market saturated in nearby Fall River and New Bedford — "what caught me by surprise is that you want to be opening a business that's not thriving in Westport anyway at this point," board chairman James Whitin said.

Carney, who appeared before the board with engineer Sean Leach, said he is not worried about business at the site. He believes his business plan will give Port Supply an advantage, and predicts that the location is ripe for competition.

"It really comes down to the quality of the business plan," he said. "The advantage we have here ... is that there is a higher car count (traffic) than, say, where my dispensary is in Uxbridge. With our somewhat unique business model we'll be able to pull a lot of our customers from Fall River and New Bedford."

As it stands now, the site has enough parking to satisfy town requirements, he and Leach said.

With the spaces currently at the site, and the average time customers spend in his Uxbridge store as a guide, he predicts he could theoretically handle as many as 400 to 500 customers per day without problems — in reality, he expects there will be far fewer; perhaps 50 to 100 customers per day. If parking does become a concern, Leach said, "there is room to expand on that site, very easily, for parking."

Or, Carney said, "if we ever get to a point where our volume exceeds the parking we have ... we would have a parking control officer out there."

After a 30-minute discussion, board chairman James Whitin said that "it doesn't seem like we have any big problems," but told Carney that he will have to work out stormwater details, and get approval from Massachusetts highway officials, before moving on to the formal town review stage.

"Gives new meaning to the term 'high seas,'" planning board member John Bullard quipped.