BERNARDSTON — There are four articles on the warrant for a special town meeting that will be held Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 7 p.m. at Bernardston Elementary School, one of which has to do with the legal classification of the Heirloom Collective, the marijuana-growing facility on Route 10.
Bernardston’s intention for the Heirloom Collective had originally been to treat the company as an agricultural facility. Then, after the Selectboard signed the town’s host agreement for the facility, the state changed its definition of agriculture to exclude cannabis cultivation — so now, whenever the Heirloom Collective needs to build agricultural facilities, like greenhouses, it will have to apply for a special permit.
Article 1 on the warrant seeks to correct this by removing the Heirloom Collective from its current classification as agriculture, so that the state’s laws on agriculture won’t apply. This way, the facility can have the same building rights that farms have in Bernardston.
Article 2 is for the purchase of a front-end loader truck to replace a truck the town has that is 24 years old and that needs over $20,000 in repairs to be roadworthy, said Town Coordinator Lou Bordeaux. The truck will cost $153,900.
Article 3 asks to transfer unused money from other funds for the purchase of the truck.
Article 4 is a “book-keeping” article, Bordeaux said, to transfer money that had been mistakenly put in the wrong account.