GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Catholic community’s two churches have voted to oppose a proposed medical marijuana dispensary on Main Street, right next door to Holy Trinity Church.
The Parish Council of Holy Trinity voted unanimously to “strongly oppose” the project, which has been proposed by Happy Valley Ventures Inc. for the site of Sandri Co.’s Sunoco station at 133 Main Street, according to a letter to parishioners dated Oct. 21.
The letter was signed by Blessed Sacrament’s Rev. Timothy J. Campoli and Holy Trinity’s Monsignor Ronald G. Yargeau. It asks the city not to approve any application for the facility.
Yargeau said Tuesday that many of his parishioners have expressed dismay over the project, which sits just feet from the church. Happy Valley would lease the property from Sandri.
“Both of the Catholic parishes would be opposed to this because it would be so close to this parish church, and though it’s a place of worship, (it has) always within its 149-year history existed as a place of religious education,” said Yargeau. “We have a lot of children, young people” who regularly attend classes and programs there, he said.
Yargeau said the parishes are not opposed to the valid use of marijuana to assist with cancer and pain management, but they are concerned about the potential for marijuana abuse.
“We live here, and we’re concerned about abuse,” he said. “That’s where this comes from.”
Happy Valley spokesman Jim Counihan said Tuesday that progress on the project has slowed in recent weeks due to delays in the permitting process with the state Department of Public Health for a related cultivation facility in Bernardston, but the company plans to proceed with the project.
“We have absolutely no intention of not moving forward,” he said. “DPH is still questioning the zoning (for the facility in Bernardston). We made an effort to not spend lots of our investors’ money by pursuing this in case the grow location doesn’t go. It’s slowed, but we explained that to city of Greenfield.”
Eric Twarog, the town’s planning director, said he expects to receive a formal application from the company soon.
Another dispensary has been proposed for the former American Legion building behind Green Fields Market by Patriot Care Corp., but that project has seen its own delays. Patriot said last month that it plans to move forward with the facility as well.
The organization 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.
Another medical marijuana facility was recently approved for Deerfield on Route 5 & 10.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: 413-772-0261, ext. 264 or trelihan@recorder.com On Twitter, @RecorderTom