Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Lakeville - The Lakeville Board of Selectmen met with a medical marijuana dispensary applicant Monday night to discuss a potential dispensary and cultivation facility in Lakeville. It was the third such meeting the board has had to date regarding medical marijuana facilities in town, all with different medical marijuana applicants.
This time, the applicant was Jeff Barton of Natural Remedies, accompanied by Eric Casey of 4Front Advisors/Ventures, who also came before the board in December on behalf of another applicant. Barton provided some background on himself, revealing that while he is new to the medical marijuana industry, he's no stranger to retail business or to plant cultivation.
"We bring forth both growing experience and retail experience, not with marijuana. So we operated Water Fresh Farm in Hopkinton for 20 years. It's a greenhouse, hydroponic growing operation, pesticide free, and we grow produce. We started out with tomatoes - they're still the biggest crop - cucumbers, nine different kinds of lettuce, basil, a few different kinds of herbs. So we've been doing that for 20 years. Up until five years ago it was all wholesale," he said, noting Whole Foods and Stop & Shop as clients. "So I think we're a little bit different than the other folks going into this business, and the fact is that we do have very strong growing experience, we have specialty retail experience, some years of general business experience before that."
After Barton went on to describe Water Fresh Farm's expansion into retail, he explained that he partnered with 4Front for their expertise in medical marijuana operations.
"When we decided to go into this business, there was the piece that we didn't have and that is what I'd term as the industry experience, and that's where we partnered up with 4Front," he said, adding that 4Front is also a capital partner in Natural Remedies.
Barton also noted Windmill Group as the private security firm hired to protect Natural Remedies locations.
As Barton explained, he is currently looking to find locations for a cultivation site and up to three dispensaries, and has considered Lakeville a potential location for cultivation and one of the dispensaries. He told the selectmen he'd already begun talks with two property owners in town.
"We don't have any specific properties locked down in Lakeville but I have met with Tom (Parenteau) up on Kenneth Welch (Drive) earlier this afternoon and talked to him and there was interest on both parts of potentially being able to do cultivation within their warehouse at 310 Kenneth Welch (Dr.)," Barton said. "For a potential dispensary, there's a location, 12 Harding St."
Later in the meeting, Barton would clarify that the location at 310 Kenneth Welch Dr. was located across from Cold Storage Solutions.
Questions from the board started with Selectman John Powderly, whose inquiries were along similar lines as those he's had for past medical marijuana applicants.
"As far as towns go, because you're a non-profit, the town gets what benefit?" Powderly asked, also adding a medical versus recreational component to the question.
"The town would benefit in a few different ways. The real basic way is tax revenue from personal property, real estate property," Barton said. "If we were to do the cultivation, we would be looking at ...; somewhere between 15-20 people, generally higher-paying positions. So somewhere in the $750,000-$800,000 a year in salaries for cultivation, and that could go from there as the business grew. Dispensary is probably somewhere in the 10-ish (employees). There's a general manager, there's a security manager, and there's the patient/client folks, but it's somewhere around 10-12 people."
Barton went on to note that "best efforts" would be made to hire Lakeville residents in any construction work that needed to be done, as well as permanent jobs in the facilities themselves.
Regarding a host community agreement - a common way for towns to benefit monetarily despite medical marijuana businesses' non-profit status - Barton said such agreements would typically entail that three percent of gross revenue goes to the host town.
To Chair Mitzi Hollenbeck's question regarding host community agreements focusing solely on cultivation sites, Barton said in his research he'd recently come across one such agreement for a facility in Littleton, MA, though his preference would be to have cultivation and a dispensary in the same town.
"The revenue part of that was $50,000 for the first two years, $75,000 for the third and fourth year, and $100,000 for the fifth year out. So it's flat, as opposed to a percentage of revenue," he said. "That Littleton one is very similar to other ones that are grow only. There aren't a lot that are grow only. In many cases, similar to me, if I were able to work out both, there's benefits operationally to being located in the same town."
"Is that location currently vacant?" Selectman Aaron Burke asked of the Kenneth Welch Drive property.
"310 is not fully utilized. It's not vacant," Barton said. "I just walked through there. It's warehouse space predominantly right now and so what we talked about is carving off a section off a piece."
Barton later indicated that the cultivation operation would use about 10,000-15,000 sq. ft. To a follow-up question from Hollenbeck, Barton clarified that he would be leasing that space, not buying the property.
Barton asked if the board wished to hear any information on medical marijuana in general, to which Burke indicated the board had no qualms with the concept itself, only concerns about what the impact on the town might be.
"Our first meeting went really poorly because the applicant didn't understand that our role in this is to try to determine what the value is to the town versus what the potential impact is in terms of providing services. So that's really what these questions are generated towards, to figure out from a numbers perspective what the picture is, so we can make assumptions based on that and then have a conversation with the town service providers to see what they feel the impact may be on town services," Burke said. "I think we're okay with the concept. We're not opposed to medical marijuana as a person's right in Massachusetts. It's a legal medical remedy, and the legislature has set up a framework by which folks like you can do what you're doing."
Barton estimated that the dispensary business could generate about $150,000 for the town based on three percent of gross revenue, and about another $100,000 if a recreational component was added, however noting that he had no intentions of pursuing recreational if the town didn't wish to have it.
"That's the other piece that would be in your purview and I will follow your lead of whether you want that or not," Barton said. "I'm before you now about medical purposes. That's all I can come in front of you with, and my request would be for a letter of non-opposition from the town of Lakeville to proceed and open up cultivation and a dispensary in town."
Hollenbeck explained the board's concerns with Route 44 - another topic that's been brought up in meetings with medical marijuana applicants - and what adding a business to the prospective location might mean for traffic and traffic-related issues there.
"You're saying, to start out, it's 51 patients per day. That's like four cars an hour, roughly," Hollenbeck said looking at some projection data Barton had provided. "It's nothing really coming in and out that's probably any different than what's going in that plaza already, but I guess we just want to look at it to make sure that if the projections hold true, what does that mean in terms of traffic volume, traffic accidents, it's a state highway."
In the end, Barton said he would provide some additional documentation to the board and in turn the board would continue their consideration of whether or not to provide the letter of non-opposition that the business would need to move forward.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lakeville Selectmen Meet With Third Medical Marijuana Applicant
Author: Matthew Ferreira
Contact: 508-979-4440
Photo Credit: Dan Pelle
Website: South Coast Today
This time, the applicant was Jeff Barton of Natural Remedies, accompanied by Eric Casey of 4Front Advisors/Ventures, who also came before the board in December on behalf of another applicant. Barton provided some background on himself, revealing that while he is new to the medical marijuana industry, he's no stranger to retail business or to plant cultivation.
"We bring forth both growing experience and retail experience, not with marijuana. So we operated Water Fresh Farm in Hopkinton for 20 years. It's a greenhouse, hydroponic growing operation, pesticide free, and we grow produce. We started out with tomatoes - they're still the biggest crop - cucumbers, nine different kinds of lettuce, basil, a few different kinds of herbs. So we've been doing that for 20 years. Up until five years ago it was all wholesale," he said, noting Whole Foods and Stop & Shop as clients. "So I think we're a little bit different than the other folks going into this business, and the fact is that we do have very strong growing experience, we have specialty retail experience, some years of general business experience before that."
After Barton went on to describe Water Fresh Farm's expansion into retail, he explained that he partnered with 4Front for their expertise in medical marijuana operations.
"When we decided to go into this business, there was the piece that we didn't have and that is what I'd term as the industry experience, and that's where we partnered up with 4Front," he said, adding that 4Front is also a capital partner in Natural Remedies.
Barton also noted Windmill Group as the private security firm hired to protect Natural Remedies locations.
As Barton explained, he is currently looking to find locations for a cultivation site and up to three dispensaries, and has considered Lakeville a potential location for cultivation and one of the dispensaries. He told the selectmen he'd already begun talks with two property owners in town.
"We don't have any specific properties locked down in Lakeville but I have met with Tom (Parenteau) up on Kenneth Welch (Drive) earlier this afternoon and talked to him and there was interest on both parts of potentially being able to do cultivation within their warehouse at 310 Kenneth Welch (Dr.)," Barton said. "For a potential dispensary, there's a location, 12 Harding St."
Later in the meeting, Barton would clarify that the location at 310 Kenneth Welch Dr. was located across from Cold Storage Solutions.
Questions from the board started with Selectman John Powderly, whose inquiries were along similar lines as those he's had for past medical marijuana applicants.
"As far as towns go, because you're a non-profit, the town gets what benefit?" Powderly asked, also adding a medical versus recreational component to the question.
"The town would benefit in a few different ways. The real basic way is tax revenue from personal property, real estate property," Barton said. "If we were to do the cultivation, we would be looking at ...; somewhere between 15-20 people, generally higher-paying positions. So somewhere in the $750,000-$800,000 a year in salaries for cultivation, and that could go from there as the business grew. Dispensary is probably somewhere in the 10-ish (employees). There's a general manager, there's a security manager, and there's the patient/client folks, but it's somewhere around 10-12 people."
Barton went on to note that "best efforts" would be made to hire Lakeville residents in any construction work that needed to be done, as well as permanent jobs in the facilities themselves.
Regarding a host community agreement - a common way for towns to benefit monetarily despite medical marijuana businesses' non-profit status - Barton said such agreements would typically entail that three percent of gross revenue goes to the host town.
To Chair Mitzi Hollenbeck's question regarding host community agreements focusing solely on cultivation sites, Barton said in his research he'd recently come across one such agreement for a facility in Littleton, MA, though his preference would be to have cultivation and a dispensary in the same town.
"The revenue part of that was $50,000 for the first two years, $75,000 for the third and fourth year, and $100,000 for the fifth year out. So it's flat, as opposed to a percentage of revenue," he said. "That Littleton one is very similar to other ones that are grow only. There aren't a lot that are grow only. In many cases, similar to me, if I were able to work out both, there's benefits operationally to being located in the same town."
"Is that location currently vacant?" Selectman Aaron Burke asked of the Kenneth Welch Drive property.
"310 is not fully utilized. It's not vacant," Barton said. "I just walked through there. It's warehouse space predominantly right now and so what we talked about is carving off a section off a piece."
Barton later indicated that the cultivation operation would use about 10,000-15,000 sq. ft. To a follow-up question from Hollenbeck, Barton clarified that he would be leasing that space, not buying the property.
Barton asked if the board wished to hear any information on medical marijuana in general, to which Burke indicated the board had no qualms with the concept itself, only concerns about what the impact on the town might be.
"Our first meeting went really poorly because the applicant didn't understand that our role in this is to try to determine what the value is to the town versus what the potential impact is in terms of providing services. So that's really what these questions are generated towards, to figure out from a numbers perspective what the picture is, so we can make assumptions based on that and then have a conversation with the town service providers to see what they feel the impact may be on town services," Burke said. "I think we're okay with the concept. We're not opposed to medical marijuana as a person's right in Massachusetts. It's a legal medical remedy, and the legislature has set up a framework by which folks like you can do what you're doing."
Barton estimated that the dispensary business could generate about $150,000 for the town based on three percent of gross revenue, and about another $100,000 if a recreational component was added, however noting that he had no intentions of pursuing recreational if the town didn't wish to have it.
"That's the other piece that would be in your purview and I will follow your lead of whether you want that or not," Barton said. "I'm before you now about medical purposes. That's all I can come in front of you with, and my request would be for a letter of non-opposition from the town of Lakeville to proceed and open up cultivation and a dispensary in town."
Hollenbeck explained the board's concerns with Route 44 - another topic that's been brought up in meetings with medical marijuana applicants - and what adding a business to the prospective location might mean for traffic and traffic-related issues there.
"You're saying, to start out, it's 51 patients per day. That's like four cars an hour, roughly," Hollenbeck said looking at some projection data Barton had provided. "It's nothing really coming in and out that's probably any different than what's going in that plaza already, but I guess we just want to look at it to make sure that if the projections hold true, what does that mean in terms of traffic volume, traffic accidents, it's a state highway."
In the end, Barton said he would provide some additional documentation to the board and in turn the board would continue their consideration of whether or not to provide the letter of non-opposition that the business would need to move forward.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lakeville Selectmen Meet With Third Medical Marijuana Applicant
Author: Matthew Ferreira
Contact: 508-979-4440
Photo Credit: Dan Pelle
Website: South Coast Today
