WORCESTER – The Planning Board granted special permits Wednesday night for two more adult-use marijuana retail stores, bringing the number in the city to nine.

Worcester is limiting the number of adult-use marijuana stores to 15 — a figure that is based on 20 percent of the number of off-premises alcohol licenses the city is authorized to issue.

The Planning Board approved a special permit for Nature’s Remedy of Massachusetts Inc. to operate a retail marijuana store at 142 Southbridge St. It is the first proposed retail marijuana site in the general downtown area to win such an approval.

Suns Mass II LLC also received a special permit to operate a retail store, at 56 Millbrook St.

Joshua Lee Smith, a local lawyer representing both companies, said Nature’s Remedy will operate its store in a two-story commercial building.

He said the store will be on the first floor, while the company is considering using the second-floor space for office or storage areas. He added that improvements are planned to the building’s façade and windows.

Mr. Smith said the site is surrounded by a mix of businesses, including other retailers and restaurants. As a result, he said the business should operate in harmony with the surrounding uses.

"We do not feel it will have any material negative impact to the area," he said.

Because the property is located in a BG-6 zone, it does not have to meet any minimum off-street parking requirements.

Mr. Smith said there is "ample parking" for customers. He said there is plenty of on-street parking along Southbridge Street and in other parking lots in that part of the downtown.

In addition, 14 compact parking spaces will be made available across the street to handle overflow parking in what is now an unimproved lot at 165 Southbridge St.

But John Guertin, owner of Guertin Graphics and Awards at 134 Southbridge St., raised concerns about the parking situation.

He said there already is a parking problem on that part of Southbridge Street on weekdays, especially between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., when people go to Coney Island Hot Dogs.

He said there are times when there is noplace on Southbridge Street for his customers to park, and he fears the problem will be exacerbated when the marijuana shop opens.

"I’m not opposed to the business, just the parking," Mr. Guertin said.

Mr. Smith said Nature’s Remedy wants to be a good neighbor and work cooperatively with the businesses in that area. He said the company is willing to go above and beyond what is required of it by providing the 14 overflow parking spaces across the street.

He added that history has shown that as more marijuana stores open in Central Massachusetts, there hasn’t been a repeat of the huge influx in traffic as occurred when one of the first shops opened in Leicester in November.

Nature’s Remedy operates two other adult-use marijuana stores, including one in Millbury. It also has a 50,000-square-foot cultivation and production facility in Lakeville.

Meanwhile, Suns Mass II, a subsidiary of Harvest Inc., wants to open a storefront in a two-story building at 56 Millbrook St. that was long used as an automotive repair and auto body garage.

Mr. Smith said the company will reconfigure and expand the parking lot on the property to 23 spaces.

He added that the property is located in a manufacturing zone where there are other businesses.

In granting the special permits, the Planning Board set the allowable hours of operations for both at 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday.

In order to be able to operate an adult-use marijuana-related business in the city, potential business owners must receive a special permit from the Planning Board.

The Planning Board has granted seven other special permits for adult-use marijuana retail sales, at 9 Harrison St., 65 Pullman St., 74 Grafton St., 143 Southwest Cutoff, 645 Park Ave., 64 West Boylston St. and 640 Lincoln St.

The board has also granted special permits for three adult-use marijuana product manufacturing operations and three special permits for cultivation operations.

There is no limit on the number of other marijuana-related businesses that do not have points of sale with the public, such as marijuana cultivators, independent testing laboratories, product manufacturers, research facilities, transporters and micro-businesses.

Both Nature’s Remedy and Suns Mass will next have to go before the Worcester License Commission to receive a license to operate.

So far, the License Commission has approved five licenses for adult-use marijuana retail sales.

In addition to the local approvals, applicants must receive final approval from the state Cannabis Control Commission.