Lanesborough Planners OK New Building Design for Cannabis Dispensary
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Planning Board unanimously approved the construction of a new building on 660 Cheshire Road, which will house a cannabis dispensary.
The board approved plans for the 3600 square foot building on Monday, with the only condition being the color scheme gets approved by the board once it is determined. Construction of the new building will follow the demolition of the current structure, formerly Arizona Pizza.
Brent White, principal of White Engineering Inc., representing Royal Hemp LLC, presented the plans for the project. He said the original plan was to reuse the existing structure, but this was deemed infeasible.
"We just determined that the condition of the building was too far gone to be able to salvage that," he said. "We have portions of the building where the support columns are wooden posts sitting on a stone with no concrete or any sort of confidence that there's broad protection here. Ultimately, we decided to demolish the existing restaurant structure and propose a new freestanding building."
White said the new building is similar in size to the current structure. In addition to the building, there are plans for the dispensary to house on-site product manufacturing, which White said he intends to show the board, for its approval, at a later meeting.
White said the new building complies more with the town's zoning bylaws than the current structure.
"It's really just a matter of repositioning the building on the site, and frankly, setting it back farther off the road," he said. "The new building will actually comply with the side yard and front setback, whereas the existing building is preexisting non-conforming."
Planning Board member Joe Trybus said the condition regarding the color scheme of the building is to avoid any out-of-place colors.
"One thing that I don't want as a board member is any loud colors," he said.
Also discussed at the meeting, the board voted to continue the discussion of new retail space proposed for 20 Williamstown Road. The proposed additions would create eight 12-foot by 40-foot sheds, each of which could house several vendors.
The board members expressed positivity for the proposal but decided not to approve it because they did not have specifics about the aesthetic of the sheds. These specifics could be known and voted on as soon as the board's next meeting.
"I think it's a great idea," Trybus said. "I would just like to see what they're going to look like."
The board discussed banner regulations and bylaws for businesses in town, hoping to have proposed changes ready for the next annual town meeting.
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