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Neighbors of Hawks Wing Farm, whose owners have proposed growing medical marijuana on the property, appeared at a meeting of the Yarmouth Planning Board on, Nov. 21, to register their opposition to the plan. The farm is on Hawks Wing Road, at the rear of a housing development off Great Western Road. Neighbors said the farm's proximity to houses, and the fact that it is accessible only by the streets on which they live, make it an unacceptable site for marijuana cultivation.
"It's not like this open farm in the middle of nowhere," said Lee Drinane of Doves Wing Road. "The only access to this farm is past our houses." Marianne Jestings of Hawks Wing Road said she is concerned that an active cultivation site could attract people seeking marijuana for recreational, rather than medicinal, purposes. "We don't want that kind of traffic going up there," she said.
"We feel that the operation will have a negative impact on the neighborhood," said Jack Hughes, also of Hawks Wing Road. Drinane said that, although a majority of Yarmouth residents supported the statewide initiative that legalized medical marijuana in November 2012, even those who voted yes might change their opinions if they found a dispensary or cultivation site in close proximity to their homes. "Once you start placing it in people's neighborhoods, in people's backyards, I think you'll see people having a different vote," she said.
Drinane joined other neighbors in urging the town to confine marijuana facilities to designated areas. "I don't think any residential neighborhood is appropriate," she said.
The planning board is working on a town bylaw governing marijuana cultivation and dispensing, with hopes of submitting it for a vote at Town Meeting next spring. The locations that will eventually be designated for marijuana uses under the law have already been tentatively identified: one is just south of Exit 7 off Route 6, the other south of Exit 8; Hawks Wing Farm is well outside either.
"The consensus of the board is, we're basically looking at a couple of districts in the town where we would allow this," said planning board member Norm Weare. Weare also articulated the commonly held understanding that the likely placement of a dispensary in Dennis makes it improbable that another such facility would be located in Yarmouth. "I'm not sure we'll have a dispensary here, because it looks like Dennis is going to have at least one, and they're right next to us," he said. Cultivation, therefore, is the main issue with which Yarmouth is grappling at the moment.
Neighbors also addressed the factor that could clear the way for the Hawks Wing Farm cultivation project, Massachusetts' agricultural exemption, which allows farms to be located in residentially zoned areas. The debate over whether or not medical marijuana qualifies as agriculture under that statute is so far a local one, with no definitive guidance heaving yet been handed down by the state government to towns struggling to construct bylaws.
Neighbors also addressed the factor that could clear the way for the Hawks Wing Farm cultivation project, Massachusetts' agricultural exemption, which allows farms to be located in residentially zoned areas. The debate over whether or not medical marijuana qualifies as agriculture under that statute is so far a local one, with no definitive guidance heaving yet been handed down by the state government to towns struggling to construct bylaws.
Drinane said the agricultural exemption was never intended to encompass tightly controlled crops such as marijuana, which is still illegal at the federal level. "While it's grown, nationally it's not recognized as an agricultural product," she said. Weare said the question is still very much an open one. "The state has not done a very good job of defining this," he said. Several members of the planning board have voiced the opinion that Yarmouth's bylaw should not recognize marijuana cultivation as agriculture–which would rule out cultivation at Hawk's Wing Farm–but the issue has yet to be decided.
Bill Snowden III, trustee of the Hawks Wing Farm Trust, which owns the property, said marijuana cultivation should be treated as agriculture, and presented a letter from the Yarmouth Agricultural Commission to that effect. The letter states, "A farmer should be, subject to...reasonable regulation by the town, able to participate in medical marijuana cultivation...As a commission, we recommend that the Planning Board not restrict the agricultural exemption...in its new zoning bylaw." Snowden is a former member of the agricultural commission.
Snowden said that the opinion of the development's residents is not universally against the plan. "We have neighbors who do support this, who are not opposed," he said. Snowden said he had received letters from neighbors in support of the plan. Asked to produce those letters, he said they were in the possession of Planting Hope, the nonprofit group that hopes to distribute marijuana grown at Hawks Wing Farm in the Boston area.
Snowden said he was surprised by the vehemence of the opposition on display at the meeting. "I don't understand the animosity that exists in this," he said. "We're supposed to all cooperate here. This is a neighborhood." The planning board is set to consider the issue again at its next meeting, on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Representatives from Planting Hope are expected to attend, and the board urged Yarmouth residents who wish their opinions to be heard to do so as well. "Hearing from the public is huge," said board member Ken Driscoll.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Wickedlocal.com
Author: Conor Powers-Smith
Contact: The Register Contact Us
Website: Neighbors question Yarmouth farm marijuana cultivation - - The Register
"It's not like this open farm in the middle of nowhere," said Lee Drinane of Doves Wing Road. "The only access to this farm is past our houses." Marianne Jestings of Hawks Wing Road said she is concerned that an active cultivation site could attract people seeking marijuana for recreational, rather than medicinal, purposes. "We don't want that kind of traffic going up there," she said.
"We feel that the operation will have a negative impact on the neighborhood," said Jack Hughes, also of Hawks Wing Road. Drinane said that, although a majority of Yarmouth residents supported the statewide initiative that legalized medical marijuana in November 2012, even those who voted yes might change their opinions if they found a dispensary or cultivation site in close proximity to their homes. "Once you start placing it in people's neighborhoods, in people's backyards, I think you'll see people having a different vote," she said.
Drinane joined other neighbors in urging the town to confine marijuana facilities to designated areas. "I don't think any residential neighborhood is appropriate," she said.
The planning board is working on a town bylaw governing marijuana cultivation and dispensing, with hopes of submitting it for a vote at Town Meeting next spring. The locations that will eventually be designated for marijuana uses under the law have already been tentatively identified: one is just south of Exit 7 off Route 6, the other south of Exit 8; Hawks Wing Farm is well outside either.
"The consensus of the board is, we're basically looking at a couple of districts in the town where we would allow this," said planning board member Norm Weare. Weare also articulated the commonly held understanding that the likely placement of a dispensary in Dennis makes it improbable that another such facility would be located in Yarmouth. "I'm not sure we'll have a dispensary here, because it looks like Dennis is going to have at least one, and they're right next to us," he said. Cultivation, therefore, is the main issue with which Yarmouth is grappling at the moment.
Neighbors also addressed the factor that could clear the way for the Hawks Wing Farm cultivation project, Massachusetts' agricultural exemption, which allows farms to be located in residentially zoned areas. The debate over whether or not medical marijuana qualifies as agriculture under that statute is so far a local one, with no definitive guidance heaving yet been handed down by the state government to towns struggling to construct bylaws.
Neighbors also addressed the factor that could clear the way for the Hawks Wing Farm cultivation project, Massachusetts' agricultural exemption, which allows farms to be located in residentially zoned areas. The debate over whether or not medical marijuana qualifies as agriculture under that statute is so far a local one, with no definitive guidance heaving yet been handed down by the state government to towns struggling to construct bylaws.
Drinane said the agricultural exemption was never intended to encompass tightly controlled crops such as marijuana, which is still illegal at the federal level. "While it's grown, nationally it's not recognized as an agricultural product," she said. Weare said the question is still very much an open one. "The state has not done a very good job of defining this," he said. Several members of the planning board have voiced the opinion that Yarmouth's bylaw should not recognize marijuana cultivation as agriculture–which would rule out cultivation at Hawk's Wing Farm–but the issue has yet to be decided.
Bill Snowden III, trustee of the Hawks Wing Farm Trust, which owns the property, said marijuana cultivation should be treated as agriculture, and presented a letter from the Yarmouth Agricultural Commission to that effect. The letter states, "A farmer should be, subject to...reasonable regulation by the town, able to participate in medical marijuana cultivation...As a commission, we recommend that the Planning Board not restrict the agricultural exemption...in its new zoning bylaw." Snowden is a former member of the agricultural commission.
Snowden said that the opinion of the development's residents is not universally against the plan. "We have neighbors who do support this, who are not opposed," he said. Snowden said he had received letters from neighbors in support of the plan. Asked to produce those letters, he said they were in the possession of Planting Hope, the nonprofit group that hopes to distribute marijuana grown at Hawks Wing Farm in the Boston area.
Snowden said he was surprised by the vehemence of the opposition on display at the meeting. "I don't understand the animosity that exists in this," he said. "We're supposed to all cooperate here. This is a neighborhood." The planning board is set to consider the issue again at its next meeting, on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Representatives from Planting Hope are expected to attend, and the board urged Yarmouth residents who wish their opinions to be heard to do so as well. "Hearing from the public is huge," said board member Ken Driscoll.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Wickedlocal.com
Author: Conor Powers-Smith
Contact: The Register Contact Us
Website: Neighbors question Yarmouth farm marijuana cultivation - - The Register
