Robert Celt
New Member
The Bernardston Board of Selectmen has agreed to issue a letter of support for a medical marijuana farm in town.
The letter backs allowing Greenfield-based nonprofit organization Happy Valley Compassion Center to continue with the state licensing process to operate an indoor facility here.
Jim Counihan, Patrick Cloney and Tim Van Epps evaluated numerous locations throughout the state and settled on Bernardston because it's a right-to-farm community and most likely has experienced growers living in the area who will want to pursue employment opportunities with the organization. The goal is to provide anywhere from 12 to 24 local farmers with a job in an up-and-coming industry, a living wage and a benefits package.
They believe a suitable size to successfully run the operation is about 15,000 square feet to grow various plant strains and process the crop for medical use, and they either want to build a facility on the Sandri lot near Bald Mountain Road or lease unoccupied barns from the Kringle Farm.
"We want to portray this as a wellness business because that's how we view it," Counihan said. "We want it to be a very clean, a very natural look and feel to both the inside and the outside of the building."
"We're all married with children and we want to run a business that our families are proud of and we want to run a business that makes the people in town proud of it as well," Cloney added after his partner's statement.
The organization must formulate a host agreement with Bernardston in order to fulfill the requirements of the siting profile and advance to the fourth level of the state licensing process that requires the nonprofit to pay a $50,000 application fee to receive a Provisional Certificate of Registration from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
"Typically what we are seeing – and we would fully expect that to be the case here – the town and the particular dispensaries enter into what's called a hosting agreement where there is some sort of economic benefit provided back to the town in exchange for the town be willing to host you inside of their borders," Counihan said.
Happy Valley Compassion Center is only requesting Bernardston to host an indoor grow facility and must re-apply if the organization wants to open a dispensary in town. Board of Selectmen Chairman Bob Raymond said the percentage of the tax revenue will be written into the host agreement.
"The only reason the Selectboard is looking at this is because, unfortunately, we need to look at revenue streams in this town," Raymond said. "The taxes are going to be going up maybe as high as $20 or a little bit over."
The selectmen invited the business partners to a March 2 meeting for one last hearing before the board voted to either approve or disapprove the organization's initial application.
About 15 residents were in attendance and questioned the men throughout the 45-minute presentation about the hours of operation and building aesthetics and security among other topics of concern.
The men have entered into a nondisclosure agreement with the two potential property owners and cannot release any detailed information about the site specifics until a location is chosen and the details are finalized, they said.
"The business model that the three of us are trying to deploy is one where we lease the building upfront and negotiate in an option to purchase the land," Counihan added. "Ultimately, we would like to own it, but early on when we start the business there won't be enough cashflow to make mortgage payments and purchase the land."
The decision to issue the letter of support was not taken lightly. Each board member talked to numerous residents for the past two months and found that the majority of individuals weren't opposed to the idea of their hometown hosting an indoor pot cultivation facility as many residents have come to realize that medical marijuana is continuing to gain momentum throughout the country.
Most, if not all, of the attendees – even those who were apprehensive of the proposal – seemed pleased with the information presented and cited their support for the project with an "I" when the board took a vote to issue the letter of support at the conclusion of the meeting.
"My family has embraced the idea and we're proud of it," Bernardston resident Brian Ross said.
"I think it would be great for the town to have an identity around being open and looking in the future."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: MA: Bernardston Issues Letter Of Support For Indoor Medical Marijuana Facility
Author: Rachel Rapkin
Contact: The Recorder
Photo Credit: None found
Website: The Recorder
The letter backs allowing Greenfield-based nonprofit organization Happy Valley Compassion Center to continue with the state licensing process to operate an indoor facility here.
Jim Counihan, Patrick Cloney and Tim Van Epps evaluated numerous locations throughout the state and settled on Bernardston because it's a right-to-farm community and most likely has experienced growers living in the area who will want to pursue employment opportunities with the organization. The goal is to provide anywhere from 12 to 24 local farmers with a job in an up-and-coming industry, a living wage and a benefits package.
They believe a suitable size to successfully run the operation is about 15,000 square feet to grow various plant strains and process the crop for medical use, and they either want to build a facility on the Sandri lot near Bald Mountain Road or lease unoccupied barns from the Kringle Farm.
"We want to portray this as a wellness business because that's how we view it," Counihan said. "We want it to be a very clean, a very natural look and feel to both the inside and the outside of the building."
"We're all married with children and we want to run a business that our families are proud of and we want to run a business that makes the people in town proud of it as well," Cloney added after his partner's statement.
The organization must formulate a host agreement with Bernardston in order to fulfill the requirements of the siting profile and advance to the fourth level of the state licensing process that requires the nonprofit to pay a $50,000 application fee to receive a Provisional Certificate of Registration from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
"Typically what we are seeing – and we would fully expect that to be the case here – the town and the particular dispensaries enter into what's called a hosting agreement where there is some sort of economic benefit provided back to the town in exchange for the town be willing to host you inside of their borders," Counihan said.
Happy Valley Compassion Center is only requesting Bernardston to host an indoor grow facility and must re-apply if the organization wants to open a dispensary in town. Board of Selectmen Chairman Bob Raymond said the percentage of the tax revenue will be written into the host agreement.
"The only reason the Selectboard is looking at this is because, unfortunately, we need to look at revenue streams in this town," Raymond said. "The taxes are going to be going up maybe as high as $20 or a little bit over."
The selectmen invited the business partners to a March 2 meeting for one last hearing before the board voted to either approve or disapprove the organization's initial application.
About 15 residents were in attendance and questioned the men throughout the 45-minute presentation about the hours of operation and building aesthetics and security among other topics of concern.
The men have entered into a nondisclosure agreement with the two potential property owners and cannot release any detailed information about the site specifics until a location is chosen and the details are finalized, they said.
"The business model that the three of us are trying to deploy is one where we lease the building upfront and negotiate in an option to purchase the land," Counihan added. "Ultimately, we would like to own it, but early on when we start the business there won't be enough cashflow to make mortgage payments and purchase the land."
The decision to issue the letter of support was not taken lightly. Each board member talked to numerous residents for the past two months and found that the majority of individuals weren't opposed to the idea of their hometown hosting an indoor pot cultivation facility as many residents have come to realize that medical marijuana is continuing to gain momentum throughout the country.
Most, if not all, of the attendees – even those who were apprehensive of the proposal – seemed pleased with the information presented and cited their support for the project with an "I" when the board took a vote to issue the letter of support at the conclusion of the meeting.
"My family has embraced the idea and we're proud of it," Bernardston resident Brian Ross said.
"I think it would be great for the town to have an identity around being open and looking in the future."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: MA: Bernardston Issues Letter Of Support For Indoor Medical Marijuana Facility
Author: Rachel Rapkin
Contact: The Recorder
Photo Credit: None found
Website: The Recorder