TURNERS FALLS — A site plan for a marijuana cultivation, processing and retail facility at the spot of the old Hallmark Photography building has cleared a hurdle.
A round of applause was heard in Town Hall as the Montague Planning Board unanimously passed the site plan following two hours of public comment and community outreach by the company, 253 Organic LLC. The company must still be granted a license to sell and cultivate marijuana before it moves forward.
253 Organic is comprised of five team members with ties to Massachusetts: Seth Rutherford, an irrigation businessman; Lee Olesen, an industrial-engineer-turned-marijuana-entrepreneur; Chris Gallant, a Nantucket architect; Marcia Wagner, a Cornell and Harvard Law graduate and Alan Shorr, a Broadway producer and former broker dealer.
Members of 253 Organic have attended multiple Selectboard meetings to discuss their proposal for the facility at 253 Millers Falls Road, which has been vacant for over a decade.
Town Administrator Steve Ellis has previously described the potential cannabis facility as a “significant development for our community.”
The team hopes to refurbish the Hallmark building to make it a functional, discreet marijuana facility. Rutherford promised that the building would have no ads, no signs and strict odor control to ensure no negative effects on the community.
“If you drive by the building, the only reason you’d think anything is happening is because of the cameras all around it,” he said. “It’s basically indoor farming … but very technical and very expensive.”
The same building was proposed to be a medical marijuana dispensary in 2014, but it wasn’t licensed due to the limited number of licenses available.
“We’ve been struggling to find a good use,” said Town Planner Walter Ramsey. “Cultivation is a good, suitable use.”
253 Organic estimates that the entire facility would be 30,000 square feet with an ancillary building for a small boutique-style retail store that would sell to adults 21 and over.
“By combining all three (cultivation, processing, retail) in one location it’s more efficient,” said Olesen in a previous discussion.
The plan is to build a “Nantucket-style” store attached to the cultivation building, but the general public would have no access to the cultivation building, which would have strict entry requirements, including scanned ID cards.
“This will be the most secure building in the town, I guarantee you,” Olesen said. “Every square inch of the store will be covered by surveillance.”
Customer identification will be scanned before entry as well.
The two existing parking areas at the building will be utilized as both customer and employee parking. Customers would have 16 spaces in front, and employees would park in the back with a security fence. Overflow parking on Millers Falls Road would not be allowed.
A crosswalk would also be installed so patrons could safely walk to the building, and a sidewalk is planned, too.
In addition to high security, the team hopes to have an extremely clean business and is looking to be the only kosher marijuana facility.
“We want to be, and will be, good corporate neighbors,” said Wagner, who led Tuesday’s community outreach discussion.
Projected yearly sales for 253 Organic are $7 million to $8 million per year, and it is estimated that the town will gain a half-million dollars in tax revenue from it each year.
In addition, the business has promised to give charitable donations to the town between $5,000 and $15,000 for education, health and safety. At Tuesday’s meeting, team members said the town should expect donations on the higher end of the estimate.
The average customer is expected to stay at the retail shop for 10 minutes. There will be a 20-minute maximum visit time and strict anti-loitering laws.
One community member raised the concern of people smoking in the parking lot, and 253 Organic responded that management would contact police if any person is loitering or using marijuana on the premises.
253 Organic hopes to start processing this fall and expects to harvest around 250 pounds of marijuana per month.
Business hours are expected to be 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, but times are subject to change.
If 253 Organic is issued a permit, it will take them 10 months after that to complete the facility. Then, the plants must grow so they can be harvested. The team estimated that the business may be able to start selling in the second quarter of next year.
The business promised that its hiring preferences will be for town locals and estimates that it will hire for 40 to 50 positions, six or seven of which will be management positions.
Reach Christie Wisniewski at: cwisniewski@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 280