DEERFIELD — The Planning Board will hold a public preliminary review of site plans for a proposed medical marijuana dispensary on Routes 5 and 10 this evening at 7 p.m.
According to a legal notice published in the newspaper recently, Planning Board members will look over the dispensary’s preliminary designs during a public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 3, at the town offices.
The review comes “on request of New England Patient Network,” which intends “to rebuild an existing house on property at 4 Greenfield Road for use as a medical marijuana dispensary.”
During a recent Selectboard meeting, members said they don’t think the dispensary will have a significant impact on the surrounding area.
Exactly where the dispensary intends to grow its marijuana plants wasn’t clear before press time. However, state law requires that the dispensary and the growing location be owned by the same company.
Town records value the roughly 4-acre plot of land — including the existing house, built in 1960 — at almost $200,000. Currently, the site is zoned commercially.
According to preliminary site plans, parking for the dispensary will be out front, with a 6-foot-high chain-link fence around it. The plans note a proposed 600-square-foot addition to the 1,457-square-foot existing house.
On June 22, 2016, a Recorder article noted the Selectboard “signed a host agreement allowing a medical marijuana cultivation and sales business, New England Patient Network, to grow and sell marijuana … for three years, pending a state certification.”
Initially, the dispensary was intended to be at 10 Greenfield Road, in a building owned by Atlantic Furniture. Since then, however, intentions have changed because of logistical reasons and New England Patient Network plans to open its dispensary next door, at 4 Greenfield Road.
Under the three-year agreement, the town will earn no less than 2 percent of the dispensary’s gross annual profit.
As of Sep. 27, 2016, a document containing all pot dispensaries in the state notes the state gave New England Patient Network’s South Deerfield dispensary a Provisional Certificate of Registration to operate, essentially the go-ahead to open for business.
The dispensary’s site plans are available for inspection at the Deerfield town offices.
Today’s Planning Board meeting will address a few other items of interest to those living in town.
Board members will continue a site plan review for a proposed new Cumberland Farms gas station at the corner of Elm Street and Routes 5 and 10, tackling storm water runoff designs.
If Cumberland Farms’ state and local permits are approved, the current gas station in the center of town would close and move to Greenfield Road.
Then, the fuel storage tanks would be removed and the building sold with a deed restriction prohibiting the new owner from opening a convenience store or gas station.
After that, Developer Mark Wightman will present his Definitive Site Plan to build a 70-plus residence senior housing development on Sugarloaf Street.
The meeting’s agenda can be found on the town’s website, and the meeting starts at 7 p.m. sharp.
You can reach Andy Castillo
at: acastillo@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 263
On Twitter @AndyCCastillo