WHATELY — The agricultural community has signed its first host agreement for marijuana, issuing it to one of the only businesses with plans in Massachusetts to grow recreational pot in a greenhouse as opposed to a building in an industrial park.
The host agreements are the details of how a particular marijuana business plans to work with the town, including its contributions to education and public safety.
The first host agreement a town signs is precedent setting, a point which the Whately Selectboard was keenly aware of as they moved through the paperwork line-by-line that they had in front of them from Urban Grown Inc.
“This is the first one we’re doing and we know there’s at least one more if not another marijuana establishment coming down the road,” board member Joyce Palmer-Fortune said. “What we put in this one will affect the other ones.”
The discussion over the cultivation site’s agreement came during last week’s Selectboard meeting, following a three-hour conversation over the Castaway Lounge.
“I want to get it off our plates,” Selectboard Chairman Jonathan Edwards said, when asked if the board should sign the host agreement following about an hour of discussion. He turned to the Town Administrator Brian Domina, who said it seemed to be all squared away. And Palmer-Fortune said, “These people need to get their business underway while the sun is still shining.”
While certain details of the host agreement were hashed out at the meeting, the board reiterated this is, in theory, an ideal iteration of this type of business.
Urban Grown Inc. is led by longtime University of Massachusetts Amherst professor of agronomy Stephen Herbert. He is partnered with Northampton attorney Michael Cutler, who helped to draft the initial ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana, and Scott Soares, the former Massachusetts agriculture commissioner who’s now consulting in this field.
The board particularly likes that Herbert will be partnering with local farmer Scott Hutkoski, who has greenhouses at his Long Plain Farm on Christian Lane.
Each greenhouse is about 3,000 square feet and the license for which Herbert is applying allows him to grow in up to 10,000 square feet. If he wants to expand the business, Palmer-Fortune said the business will have to come back for a new host agreement.
The board emphasized the importance for his business to provide education in town. Herbert initially contested the idea, saying, “This should be more directed to retail stores than cultivation.”
Edwards argued otherwise, stating, “We are an agricultural community.”
“This is a brand new ballgame,” Edwards said. “We need to make sure the children and youth of not just Whately but the surrounding communities understand the hazards of marijuana consumption.”
Now that the host agreement is signed, there are still steps ahead including a special permit from the town and for the state’s Cannabis Control Commission to sign off on the accord.
Reach Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com