By Richard Price
Grafton News Editor –
Selectmen on Tuesday gave Town Administrator Tim McInerney the green light to negotiate with a medical marijuana operation while holding off on signing a letter of nonopposition till Sept. 6 at the earliest.
However, concerns were still raised at the meeting by town officials and two residents over the possibility of the operation adding recreational sales if a state ballot passes in November.
Nature’s Remedy is eyeing a 50,000 square foot grow facility and dispensary at 8 Millennium Drive, inside the CenTech office park, located near the MBTA train station and the Tufts Veterinary campus. The area is zoned for office and light industrial. Their plan is to negotiate a community host agreement with the town.
Attorney Phil Silverman, representing Nature’s Remedy, said the grow facility would follow state guidelines if the operation is approved. Every plant would be bar coded to track it. The facility, he said, would be secure. Only patients with a state issued medical marijuana card would be allowed in. He also said the grow facility would be indoors and operated with sun lamps. In addition, he said, the business would have extensive security with restricted access, a vault to store the product, a burglar alarm system and security cameras recording every inch of the operation.
Silverman also said there would be a preference to hire locally, which they anticipate would need eight to 20 employees initially but could ramp up to 40 to 60 if the demand is there. “There is a lot of growth potential,” he said.
But with two Selectmen absent at Tuesday’s meeting — Jennifer Thomas and Bruce Spinney — the board decided to hold off on voting on a letter of nonopposition until after Labor Day during a public hearing on Sept. 6. In the meantime, McInerney, Silverman and Nature Remedy’s Chief Operating Officer John Brady were given the OK to negotiate terms.
Silverman told the board Tuesday that although Nature’s Remedy is registered as a nonprofit they will agree to pay taxes to the town.
Nature’s Remedy is now the sole applicant vying for a medical marijuana business in Grafton after Sage Cannabis, who wanted to open a dispensary in North Grafton on Worcester Street, pulled their application in June. They are pursuing new opportunities in Needham and Cambridge, Silverman said. Sage’s CEO Michael Dundas told The Grafton News he made the decision to leave following a contentious meeting in January with residents who were upset about the location — at a former Cumberland Farms.
Resident Jim Gallagher, who was a vocal opponent of the Worcester Street proposal largely because of the traffic impact on the neighborhood and its proximity to places where children congregate, said he was excited about the new proposal but with reservations. He proposed that town officials delay signing the letter until negotiations were done but no sooner than after the November ballot so the town knows which direction recreational marijuana is headed.
Silverman said a delay would pose a problem with the state who have a tighter deadline. He said holding back on the letter might be seen by the state as an “impermissible tax.”
Resident Mark Johnson is also opposed to a vote until November. He said the ballot initiative could limit town control if recreational use passes. He read excerpts from the ballot saying towns could not limit the number of recreational facilities below the number of medical facilities while also saying it could not prohibit a recreational facility from sharing space with a medical space. But Silverman said Johnson read only part of the language and that there was room for towns to “vote it down.”
Brady said if recreational use passes his company would be willing to entertain the idea but since the medical business is nonprofit he would have to return as an entirely different, for profit operation.
But Selectman Craig Dauphinais was hesitant saying the town needed to be careful. “We can’t think about just today,” he said.
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