PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Manna Wellness has received the site plan approval to move forward with permitting for a medical marijuana facility on Callahan Drive.

 

The company has been trying to open a dispensary in Pittsfield since voters passed the ballot question allowing marijuana for medicinal purposes. Since 2013, the company has been trying to secure a permit to operate a facility and had eyed a site off of West Street in Pittsfield.

 

Now, the company has chosen a vacant lot to build the retail-only facility for medical marijuana patients on Callahan Drive, off of West Housatonic Street and next to the Dollar General and Ice River Springs.

 

"We have provisional licenses from the state of Massachusetts' Department of Public Health to operate three registered marijuana dispensaries. This will be a retail only site on Callahan Drive," CEO Julia Germaine told the Community Development Board on Monday.

 

The Community Development approved the site plan and next Manna would be required to receive a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Germaine said the building will be single-story and be about 3,500 square feet. 

 

"This dispensary is accessible to licensed patients only. It is not open to the public," she said. "Our goal is to create a welcoming patient experience that fits the community and the geography without compromising the safety of our patients and employees."

 

The parking will be out front, deliveries in a secured location in the back, and there will multiple security measures in place.

 

"DPH regulations dictate intensive security measures," she said.

 

Engineer Dan Lovett from Hill Engineering said there is nothing on the current site and he expects very little of the new development would be visible for anyone not on Callahan Drive.

 

"The existing site right now, there is nothing there. It is just an open field. There are already utilities out in the street that is used by Ice River Springs," Lovett said. 

 

Behind the building is mostly wooded and there is a rise in elevation, he said. From West Housatonic Street, the view of the site is "mostly obscured by Dollar General and Fontaines. We are about half way up, close to the cul-de-sac," Germaine said.

 

Germaine did add that there is a break in the tree line behind the site of about 25 to 30 feet in which may allow some visibility of the facility's roof from another street over. But, mostly, the site is hidden.

 

The proposal is expected to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals next Wednesday. The ZBA had just recently denied a special permit for another company looking to open a dispensary on East Street because of the location and proximity to a day care, parks, and schools. However, Callahan Drive is further removed from any residential, schools, or parks and is zoned in a light industrial area.