GREENFIELD — A joint public hearing on whether to impose a moratorium on outdoor marijuana cultivation has been continued to next month.
The decision by the Planning Board and Economic Development Committee to continue the hearing followed Thursday’s comments from residents, who urged officials to first reimpose the Tier 1 limit (of 5,000 square feet, compared to the current limit of 100,000 square feet) on outdoor cultivation before putting a moratorium in place.
“Please make this your top priority,” said resident Diane Killeen. “It will help our neighborhood remain a quiet and peaceful place to live and for young families to raise their children. Greenfield must support a healthy environment for its 135 residential homeowners in this area as well as everyone who travels up and down Country Club Road.”
For the last several months, residents in the neighborhood of 446 Country Club Road — where three limited liability companies have secured host community agreements with the city to operate three Tier 11 outdoor cultivation sites — have expressed concern over the magnitude of the cultivation planned for the property. Tier 11 allows for grow sites with up to 100,000 square feet of canopy, which is the largest size possible for a cultivation site in Massachusetts, according to the state Cannabis Control Commission.
“If allowed to go through, this will totally change the neighborhood, and we would all be subject to this new enterprise, including odors of marijuana growing … new fencing, security measures, more traffic, as well as having to look at this every day,” said Country Club Road resident Cindy Wenzler.
In response to the public outcry that stemmed from a community outreach meeting in February, city officials have been working with residents to address the effects these grow facilities would have on the neighborhood.
Although no site plans have been received by the city, an Approval Not Required (ANR) plan was endorsed in May by the Planning Board, which allows the owner of land on a public road to subdivide the property without going through the subdivision process. It also puts a three-year zoning freeze on the property, meaning if the acceptable use of the land — rural/residential — changes within three years from when the ANR plan was filed, on April 22, it’s grandfathered into the zoning use that existed at that time.
A portion of the land has an agricultural preservation restriction, which is a voluntary program by the state that aims to protect farmland for future agricultural use, according to the Department of Agricultural Resources.
Earlier this month, the Planning Board voted to initiate a year-long moratorium on outdoor marijuana cultivation, and forwarded the recommendation to City Council. Councilors agreed — following a recommendation from the Economic Development Committee — to continue the request for a moratorium to July 12, at which time a joint public hearing will also be held on limiting the maximum size for outdoor cultivation to Tier 1, or 5,000 square feet.
“This is the Planning Board’s opportunity to protect all rural/residential neighborhoods in Greenfield from an incompatible, over-sized land use that would be considered a nuisance by the neighbors,” said resident Al Norman.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne