NORTHAMPTON — A public forum to discuss a proposed medical marijuana growing facility off Ryan Road drew more than 100 people and many questions Monday at R.K. Finn Ryan Road School.
The forum was sponsored by Ward 6 Councilor Marianne LaBarge, the city of Northampton and Just Healthy LLC, and participation was entirely voluntary on the part of all three sponsors.
Cars filled the lot of the Ryan Road School, and the room where the meeting was held was packed full of people.
“I know my residents,” said LaBarge, referring to the big turnout in her introductory remarks.
LaBarge encouraged those present to ask questions.
“Get the answers, that’s what they’re here for,” she said.
LaBarge also said that Just Healthy wants to work with and be part of the community.
Northampton Director of Planning and Sustainability Wayne Feiden noted that whether people think marijuana is a desirable industry or not is not an issue for the city.
Rather, what the city needs to figure out is whether the facility would have a greater impact on the community than the now-closed gravel pit.
The growing facility would be sited on the old Bill Willard Inc. gravel pit off Ryan Road, of which Just Healthy is set to purchase 50 acres. One hundred acres of the property would go to conservation while another 50 acres would go to a company developing a solar project there.
The proposed facility would grow marijuana indoors in a greenhouse on the property. Processing may also occur there.
“Greenhouses make very very good neighbors,” said Bill Phelan, president of Just Healthy.
The company plans to make the facility energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. Just Healthy also has plans to open up a medical marijuana dispensary in downtown Northampton.
The next steps for the company would be to finalize purchase of the property and apply for the permits it needs from the city.
The Just Healthy representatives and Feiden got numerous questions from the audience, around such issues as odor, lights, waste disposal. and security.
The odor issue was a particularly persistent one, with the Just Healthy representatives insisting that the greenhouse would let out no odor to the surrounding community.
In terms of growing practices, Brett Sprau, director of cultivation, said after the meeting that he intended to not use any pesticides at the facility, and that any pesticide used would be state-approved.
On employment, the representatives said that the facility would employ 15-25 people.
“These are not just jobs, these are careers,” Phelan said.
On security, it was stated that the facility would not have armed guards, would have fencing and cameras, and that it would not be open to the public.
“There’s no public access to it,” said Clark Petschek, principal and general counsel for DDCues, which will be in charge of security there.
While most of the questions were of the information-gathering kind, a number also expressed concern with the enterprise in general.
“I’m not sure I love having a pot farm in my back yard,” said Kipp Armstrong, who raised the issue of addiction.
This generated some applause from the audience, as well as a retort from a woman who said that areas that have legalized marijuana have had lower negative impacts from opioid drugs.
“A lot of worse things could be happening,” said the woman, speaking of a growing facility at the gravel pit.
This would be Just Healthy’s first facility. However, Neil Phelan, Just Healthy’s CEO and Bill Phelan’s son, said he has been studying the industry for the last three years.
“We want to be that 10 percent of the industry that you don’t hear about ’cause they don’t make the news,” he said.
Neil Phelan said the company may consider branching out into recreational marijuana, but that would be based on the city’s appetite for it, as well as the company fulfilling its promises to the city on the medical side.
“If you chase two rabbits both are going to get away from you,” he said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.