GREENFIELD — A second medical marijuana facility has been proposed for Greenfield, at the Main Street Sunoco station owned by Sandri Companies
The facility has been proposed by Sandri and Happy Valley Compassion Center, a nonprofit in Greenfield seeking state approval to run a dispensary, for 155 Main St. — the first property A.R. Sandri acquired in town in 1930.
The first dispensary proposed in town is for a facility in the former American Legion behind Green Fields Market by Patriot Care Corporation.
Eric Twarog, the town’s director of planning and development, said Sandri has submitted a technical review for the proposal, which has been reviewed and sent to various boards for comment. He expects it will submit a formal application soon. The proposal would be reviewed by the Zoning Board at a meeting shortly after that.
Happy Valley would lease the space from Sandri, Twarog said. Representatives from Happy Valley and Sandri did not immediately return requests for comment.
If approved, the company would have two years to act on the special permit, Twarog said.
According to the board’s review report, the facility, if approved, would be open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and it would stock no more than 10 pounds of marijuana at a time.
Deliveries to the site would be made by a secured van with two drivers, which would be equipped with GPS so that its location would be known at all times. An outside speaker system would warn away people who are not authorized to be on the property.
No packaging of products would be done on site.
Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. asked during the review meeting if a private company would provide security for the site, and representatives from Sandri said that would be the case, according to the report.
The company said there will be no food production on site, so it will not require a food establishment permit.
Twarog said he expects the product would come from a proposed growing facility to be operated by Happy Valley that was recently approved for 199 Huckle Hill Road in Bernardston, the former Bella Notte restaurant. That facility is expected to provide 12 to 24 farming jobs in town.
This isn’t Sandri’s first venture into leasing space for a medical marijuana dispensary. In March, Recorder archives show, Happy Valley said it would lease another former Sandri Sunoco station in Hadley for the same purpose.
Twarog said there’s no limit on the number of medical marijuana dispensary facilities that can open in town.
“We treat it like a retail pharmacy,” he said. “Just because the product happens to be (medical marijuana), it’s still the same.”
Patriot Care Corporation’s proposal was granted a special permit in March of 2015, but has run into delays due to the condition of the building and the level of repair work that is needed to renovate it. The dispensary was originally supposed to open in the fall of 2015, but that date was pushed to February of this year, and then again to an undetermined date in the future.
Bob Mayerson, Patriot’s CEO, said Friday that despite the delays, the company still plans to open a dispensary in Greenfield. He said more active renovations are expected to begin next month, and the company recently opened two dispensaries, one in Lowell and the other in downtown Boston.
“The feedback we are getting (from those facilities) is consistent that people love the facility, they feel safe, they feel welcome, warm and comfortable, and that’s what we want to build on in Greenfield,” Mayerson said. “We hope by the beginning of next month you’ll start to see action on the exterior. It’s a fairly extensive remodeling and renovation of the building, but we expect to move as quickly as we can.”
New windows have been installed and asbestos removal work has been performed so far, according to Recorder archives.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: 413-772-0261, ext 264
or: trelihan@recorder.com
On Twitter: @RecorderTom