By CHRIS LINDAHL
@cmlindahl
EASTHAMPTON – A former mill on Pleasant Street is set to host a 27,000-square-foot medical marijuana-growing operation and dispensary after the Planning Board on Tuesday unanimously approved Hampden Care Facility Inc.’s plans.
The company plans to construct its headquarters at the 112 Pleasant St. building, next to Eastworks. Pending final state approval, Hampden Care will grow cannabis to be sold at an on-site dispensary and two other dispensaries in the state, the locations of which have not been determined. The dispensary will take up 2,500 square feet of the space, with the rest reserved for office space, the growing and cultivation operation and a commercial kitchen where edible marijuana products will be made.
“This will be the main point of business regardless of where the other dispensaries are,” Steve Reilly, the company’s Springfield attorney, told the board.
Hampden Care, now based in Chicopee, has expressed interest in opening dispensaries in Amherst, Hadley, Chicopee and Springfield, but has not yet obtained permits in any of those communities.
David Benlolo, chief executive of Hampden Care, said he hopes to be up and running in Easthampton next year.
The company has finished two out of three steps in the state’s medical marijuana regulatory process. Reilly said that second step, where the company’s officers are vetted and its business and financial plan scrutinized, is the largest hurdle.
Before voting to approve the project Tuesday, the Planning Board and Hampden Care officials spent over an hour discussing the company’s detailed plan and ensuring that it met the requirements of the city’s medical marijuana ordinance and zoning regulations.
Now that it has city approval, the company can start construction. The state will conduct an inspection of the premises after it is built to ensure that it meets zoning rules. If it gets that state approval, Hampden Care would be allowed to begin growing marijuana — a process that will take four months before it is ready to be sold to patients, said Benlolo, who also owns and operates seven marijuana dispensaries in Colorado and Oregon.
Benlolo told the Gazette he cannot give a more detailed timeline, but hopes to be open for business “as quick as possible.”
Security paramount
The company met with city officials, including Mayor Karen L. Cadieux and Police Chief Bruce W. McMahon, during the process of drafting its permit application.
Reilly said security is the company’s first concern, but it also aims to provide a pleasing customer experience.
“The most apt comparison to security is a casino,” he said. And aesthetically, “the best comparison I have is to Apple Store — that’s what we want the dispensary to look like.”
Security measures includes guards on the premises at all times and full video surveillance of the interior and exterior of the building. Those entering the facility will be required to show their state-issued medical marijuana cards before being allowed inside, again in the waiting room before going into the dispensary area and a third time at the point of sale.
Armored cars will make about one trip per day to the company’s other dispensaries and will be loaded inside a locked garage. The secure vehicles will also be employed to transport cash, Reilly said.
Cannabis will not be visible from outside of the building, and its windows will have reinforced steel bars for security.
Benlolo said a number of measures will be taken to ensure that passers-by and neighbors won’t smell the company’s notoriously stinky product. “We’ll make sure there’s no odor detectable outside the facility,” he said.
The business plans to hire 34 full-time employees for its Easthampton operation, Reilly said.
The company estimates that about 100 people per day will visit the dispensary, according to Reilly, though he noted it’s a hard thing to guess because the medical cannabis industry is just getting off the ground in Massachusetts.
City’s reaction
Board members asked several questions of Hampden Care officials, though member James Zarvis noted that the questioning was largely for the benefit of residents watching the meeting. The lengthy application packet was very comprehensive, he said.
Only four people opted to speak during public comment time: a man who owns property on Pleasant Street, City Councilors Joseph McCoy and Salem Derby, and Cadieux, all of whom gave positive feedback on the plan.
Derby noted that the business was a great use of former mill space and is in line with the intentions of officials who crafted the medical marijuana ordinance, which was passed in 2014. The ordinance allows growing operations only in the mill industrial zone.
“We couldn’t ask for a better proposal from my perspective,” he said. “This is exactly what we envisioned.”
Cadieux lauded the comprehensiveness of the company’s plan. She said she’s automatically concerned with the “health, safety and security” of residents when weighing the merits of any proposal.
“They’ve addressed every single one,” she said. “I’ve seen nothing but compliance and a lot of things that seem to fit with exactly what we had in mind.”
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.