AMHERST — One of four medical marijuana dispensaries seeking to open in Amherst recently received a special permit that will allow it to locate in a former restaurant on University Drive.
Planning Director Christine Brestrup said Wednesday that the Zoning Board of Appeals, in a unanimous decision at its June 30 meeting, found Mass Alternative Care’s plans to bring a dispensary to 55 University Drive, where the Hangar Pub & Grill was located before moving across the street, “meets a demonstrated need” in the community. The board was also satisfied with the company’s security measures.
Based in Springfield, Mass Alternative Care is one of four nonprofits interested in selling medical marijuana in Amherst, and the first to get both a special permit and a provisional certificate of registration from the state’s Department of Public Health. All four companies have gotten letters of support from the Select Board.
The special permit, along with a series of conditions approved by the ZBA and finalized by the Planning Department, are mandated by town zoning before any dispensary opens.
A hearing for GTI Massachusetts-NP Corp.’s proposal for use of the property at 169 Meadow St. in North Amherst, the former site of Kimball’s Auction Barn, began June 9, and will continue July 21 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
Two other nonprofit companies, MassMedicum Corp and Happy Valley Ventures, Inc., have proposed medical marijuana dispensaries. MassMedicum proposes to construct a building at 85 University Drive, while Happy Valley wants approval for a new building at 422 Amity St., where Rafters Sports Bar and Restaurant is located.
Brestrup said she attended the first hearing for GTI, observing that residents should be comfortable that the town bylaw governing medical marijuana facilities, adopted at fall Town Meeting in November 2013, is providing effective oversight on the new industry.
“I feel our Zoning Board of Appeals did a really good job in the hearing I attended looking at all the details in the site plan, the building plan and the operations of the proposed facility, ” Brestrup said. “They scrutinized things very carefully.”
In some ways, she said, the applications follow a typical process for ZBA special permits, with applicants filing an application form and paying a fee, submitting management and site plans, and supplying a list of abutters within 300 feet.
The difference, Brestrup said, is that the adopted regulations limit medical marijuana dispensaries to the business, commercial and light industrialzoning districts, and that applicants must prove there is a need for the product they will sell.
For Mass Alternative Care, the ZBA was able to take its vote in one night because the company has the provisional certificate from the state and all questions were answered, Brestrup said.
GTI’s application was more complicated because the company doesn’t yet have a provisional certificate, and there are additional issues at its proposed site, such as the unpaved parking lot next to the auction barn and the less defined entrances and exits to the site, Brestrup said.
Many of the special conditions placed upon Mass Alternative Care’s plan are specific to the medical marijuana use.
One of the conditions is that only medical marijuana retail sales are allowed on site, and that any recreational sales, should state law change this fall, would require a hearing on a new special permit.
New ownership, too, would require issuance of a new special permit.
Conditions also prohibit smoking or eating, or any other means of consumption of the product on site, and mandate that copies of any host agreement with the town be provided to the ZBA.
Other conditions for the 55 University Drive site include prohibiting parking on the east side of the access road along University Drive, which created congestion when the building operated as a restaurant, and limiting open hours so the pot shop doesn’t conflict with the neighboring Hospice Shop of the Fisher Home. The town bylaw already prohibits medical marijuana sales between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Even after special permits are issued, medical marijuana companies will still need to get building permits from the building commissioner and a certificate of occupancy, Brestrup said.
She said Amherst is well prepared for the arrival of medical marijuana thanks to former Senior Planner Jeffrey Bagg, who compiled resources and materials that the Planning Department and ZBA members are using to guide decisions.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
