SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Deerfield Planning Board wants to check with the town’s lawyer to determine if a cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and retail sales facility can exist within 500 feet of a children’s daycare.
State law prohibits any marijuana establishment from being within to be at least 500 feet from schools, churches and other places where children congregate regularly, though it was unclear at the board’s meeting on Monday if daycare centers are included on that list.
Resident Rocky Foley attended the meeting on behalf of neighbors Maggie and Mike Woods, who he said own a daycare on South Main Street, but were unable to make it to the meeting and are concerned.
Deerfield Naturals LLC has applied for a site plan review and special permit to set up an operation on developed land Atlantic Furniture leases to companies. The land is across the street from Red Roof PLUS+ on Routes 5 and 10. Mark Valone owns Atlantic Furniture and Deerfield Naturals, though the two would be separate corporations.
Valone and others were tasked with updating the landscaping plan and including screening at the back of the property in time for scheduled continuation of the hearing on Feb. 19. The Planning Board will, in the meantime, consult with the town’s lawyer.
Valone was joined by Matthew Plotkin, who will be the facility’s operations manager, Mark Reed, the director of engineering for Heritage Surveyors Inc., which has been contracted by Deerfield Naturals, and attorney Tom Lesser, who delivered a PowerPoint presentation to answer basic questions about the proposal.
Deerfield Naturals’ retail operations would be held in the brick building near the gated entrance off Routes 5 and 10 that features more than 100 parking spaces, and its restrooms and ramp are handicap accessible. The cultivation and manufacturing would take place in the building located on the property nearest to the railroad tracks. The manufacturing and processing area is 2,376 square feet and the cultivation and packaging area totals 18,621. Lesser explained new roofing is being added this year, and new siding is in the works.
There are no proposed changes to the building’s exterior, though there will be additional plantings near the main entrance to further mask the building from the roadway. The industrial area will remain serviced by municipal water and sewer.
Lesser explained the facility would be equipped with an Ecosorb CNB 100, a natural odor remover designed for the control of cannabis plant. The retail operation would be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. There would be two retail shifts each day and 10 to 12 employees per shift. There would also be two to three security associates for each of any given day’s two shifts. The manufacturing and cultivating business hours would be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Deerfield Naturals would employ about 50 full-time people, and priority would be given to Deerfield residents, Lesser said. Security would include facility lighting, 24/7 camera surveillance and an existing 6-foot chain-link fence.
Resident Sara Allium asked if consumption would be allowed on site, and she was assured it would not. She also asked if Deerfield Naturals would have go before the Planning Board again if it wanted to open a cafe, and she was told it would, though Planning Board Chairman John Waite said Deerfield does not allow social consumption of marijuana.
Reach Domenic Poli at dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.