WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The applicant who had sought to create marijuana plantation on Blair Road withdrew its application for a special permit on Thursday night.
Massflora, a subsidiary of Colorado-based Euflora Cannabis Dispensaries, asked the Zoning Board of Appeals to let it pull the application with prejudice.
"My client thinks it's beset not to pursue that site and this project at that location," Massflora's attorney, Don Dubendorf, told the board.
Massflora already had approval from the town's Conservation Commission to go forward with the project, which included a 5-acre outdoor plantation and a 7,000 square-foot building.
But the bylaw regulating marijuana that town meeting passed in 2017 allowed production facilities only by special permit.
A March hearing before the ZBA drew a capacity crowd to the Selectmen's Meeting Room -- almost all in attendance to express concerns about the negative impact of the proposed facility in the neighborhood.
Pointing to the "substantially not more detrimental to the neighborhood" standard in the bylaw for special permits, residents who live near the proposed site cited several detrimental consequences, ranging from the noxious odor of marijuana in the field to light pollution from the security lights Massachusetts law mandates for such a facility.
Residents also expressed a fear that even with the state-mandated security measures in place, a pot-growing facility would attract crime -- using the example of a California case described in the January 2018 issue of Rolling Stone. "Several men in tactical gear, posing as authorities and armed with rifles, had ambushed the property," that article read in part.
Although word circulated on Thursday through the neighbors' attorney that Massflora planned to withdraw its request, more than a dozen residents still attended Thursday's hearing, breaking out in applause when the issue was laid to rest.
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Hancock Town Meeting Votes to Strike Meme Some Found 'Divisive'
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
Hancock town meeting members Monday vote on a routine item early in the meeting.
HANCOCK, Mass. — By the narrowest of margins Monday, the annual town meeting voted to strike from the town report messaging that some residents described as, "inflammatory," "divisive" and unwelcoming to new residents.
On a vote of 50-48, the meeting voted to remove the inside cover of the report as it appeared on the town website and in printed versions distributed prior to the meeting and at the elementary school on Monday night.
The text, which appeared to be a reprinted version of an Internet meme, read, "You came here from there because you didn't like it there, and now you want to change here to be like there. You are welcome here, only don't try to make here like there. If you want to make here like there, you shouldn't have left there in the first place."
After the meeting breezed through the first 18 articles on the town meeting warrant agenda with hardly a dissenting vote, a member rose to ask if it would be unreasonable for the meeting to vote to remove the meme under Article 19, the "other business" article.
"No, you cannot remove it," Board of Selectmen Chair Sherman Derby answered immediately.
After it became clear that Moderator Brian Fairbank would entertain discussion about the meme, Derby took the floor to address the issue that has been discussed in town circles since the report was printed earlier this spring.
"Let me tell you about something that happened this year," Derby said. "The School Department got rid of Christmas. And they got rid of Columbus Day. Now it's Indigenous People's Day.
Town meeting voters will be asked Monday to approve a request to change state law in a way that will preserve education at Hancock Elementary School. click for more
The Charter Review Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to endorse an amended version of the compliance provision it drafted to be added to the Town Charter. click for more
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
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