GREENFIELD — A proposed amendment to zoning bylaws that would reimpose the Tier 1 limit on outdoor marijuana cultivation would likely apply to the controversial grow site planned on Country Club Road, according to a lawyer for the city.
“To say we’re elated and grateful that that’s what they came up with would be an understatement,” said resident Al Collins, who initiated a petition several months ago that garnered hundreds of signatures from residents concerned about the size of a potential cultivation site at 446 Country Club Road. “It’s been months of unbelievably hard work to get to this point.”
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 operation 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.
“We don’t need three (100,000-square-foot grow sites) over here,” Collins said.
To curb the impact of the potential cultivation site, residents originally petitioned for a moratorium on outdoor marijuana cultivation approvals; however, following a recommendation by the Planning Board to initiate a moratorium, city councilors agreed — on the recommendation of 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 of canopy, with a limit of three of these on any given parcel.
Although the city has received no site plans, an Approval Not Required (ANR) plan was endorsed in May by the Planning Board. An ANR allows the owner of land on a public road to split the property without going through the subdivision process. The ANR protects the land from future changes to the acceptable use of it, meaning if the acceptable use of the land changes, the property would be grandfathered in. The land is characterized as rural/residential.
However, the ANR does not appear to protect the land from any potential zoning changes that might occur, which would include any restrictions placed on the size of the cultivation project, according to attorney Jesse Belcher-Timme of Doherty, Wallace Pillsbury & Murphy.
In a letter to Mayor Roxann Wedegartner dated July 6, Belcher-Timme explained that the ANR freeze is “narrow” concerning the protection it offers.
“Since the proposed zoning amendment at issue here would still allow use of the property in question for cannabis cultivation, it cannot constitute a ‘total … prohibition’ of a category of use,” he wrote in his opinion to the mayor. “As a result, the only avenue for the property owner at 446 Country Club Road to avail itself of the ANR zoning freeze would be to show that the reduction in size somehow rises to the level of a ‘virtual prohibition’ on the use of the property for cannabis cultivation.”
Belcher-Timme wrote that it seems “incredibly unlikely” that a court would be convinced the proposed reduction would be treated as a “virtual prohibition.”
“We’ll have to find out on (July 12), and if the Planning Board takes their full measure of time — they have 21 days — that means it wouldn’t be voted on until the August meeting,” Collins said. “But I think everyone is pretty much on board with the changes. We don’t need three 100,000s over here; it would destroy the neighborhood.”
As for the proposed moratorium, Belcher-Timme wrote that it was unlikely to hold up under judicial review; and if it did, such a moratorium would likely not apply to the Country Club Road project. He explained that moratoriums have, by and large, not been approved by the state since temporary moratoriums were enacted across Massachusetts following the 2016 vote to approve adult-use cannabis. At that time, the moratorium was designed to allow municipalities a chance to develop zoning regulations.
“They might not need to have the moratorium in there,” Collins said, “which is fine because as long as the whole city is advantaged by this (tier limit) protection — that was the idea of it, not just for Country Club Road … but other areas of town.”
The joint hearing between the Planning Board and the Economic Development Committee is scheduled for July 12 at 6 p.m. via Zoom, and can be accessed at bit.ly/3NRq4JI.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.