Residents Ask Questions About Proposed Mall Cannabis Facility
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| The meeting was held in Lanesborough Town Hall in the community room. |
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Residents questioned water use and the condition of the deteriorating building during a community outreach meeting for the proposed cannabis facility at the Berkshire Mall.
On Monday, applicant Blake Mensing of JMJ Holdings presented the group's preliminary plans for the facility, which include making former anchor stores into manufacturing and cultivation facilities. The Select Board authorized negotiations for a Host Community Agreement the company in July, which Mensing said is still ongoing.
"We are proposing a marijuana product manufacturing license, a marijuana cultivation license and an existing licensee transporter license," he told the 30 or so community members in attendance. "... These are licenses that we're applying for ourselves, in some of the mall that we intend to occupy. The rest of the mall, we do intend to either rent or sell to other folks who are looking to do various components of the cannabis supply chain."
The plan, according to Mensing, is to utilize the former J.C. Penney retail space of about 51,000 square feet for their licenses, which he said would create about 35 new jobs.
Several residents expressed concerns about water use at the facility and potential issues with wastewater. Mensing was unsure exactly how much water the facility could use once operational but said he would follow any restrictions put in place by the water district.
"We are going to comply with what the water district requires to get rights and purchase that water, whatever the rate is," he said.
The majority of the facility's water comes to the town via Pittsfield.
Regarding the condition of the building, which several residents also mentioned, Mensing said his group intend to do any work needed to get the facility operational. He said there are also plans for minor aesthetic improvements to the outside of the building.
"We were certainly not going in with blinders on," he said. "We knew there were warts around the building, and obviously, something that's out there for years not being used is going to have issues."
Smells coming from the facility was another topic brought up by residents. Mensing said the growing rooms are planned to be enclosed, along with a carbon filtration system to ensure no odors escapes.
"It's absolutely in our interest [to contain odors], with such a lengthy road ahead in terms of regulatory hurdles to clear, the costs of production, the costs of compliance," he said. "If we have smells coming out of this building, that means we have designed it very wrong."
Mensing said the group plans to work with a nonprofit called the Big Hope Project, which seeks to direct aid to communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. He said they are also willing to work with any other local organizations that are interested.
"We are open to having conversations with any nonprofit that does things that is basically in line with our founding ideals," he said.
Mensing said he was unsure of a specific timeline but noted the facility could, in theory, be open within about a year.
"If we were open this time next year, things went very smoothly at the state level. But I'd say it's probably more like 18 months or so from now," he said.
Tags: marijuana, marijuana dispensary,
