HATFIELD — Founders of a cannabis manufacturer that opened on Routes 5 and 10 in May 2020 are asking Hatfield town officials to consider dropping the annual impact fee from its community host agreement.
But members of the Select Board told representatives from Treeworks Tuesday that they would need to get more information about how the company has affected town services before renegotiating any terms of the deal.
Not having received any 3% impact fee payments yet, Chairwoman Diana Szynal said her inclination is not to reduce or adjust the arrangement yet, though she might be open to doing so.
“Hatfield has been, I think, a great community to work with for our cannabis businesses,” Szynal said.
Treeworks co-founder Tim Kane said many communities are dropping the impact fees because they are not finding negative impacts from cannabis manufacturers and retailers, even though this was a fear when host community agreements were signed. His colleague, MacKae Freeland, said that Treeworks is tucked away at 3 West St. and that there has been no reliance on police or traffic details, as has been the case in other communities.
In Northampton, former Mayor David Narkiewcz announced in January 2021 that the city would stop collecting these mitigation fees, though that came after the city had already got $3.1 million in community impact fees over several years, calculated as 3% of annual gross revenue.
“I think what we’re trying to bring to light here is Treeworks itself is not bringing really any negative impact, but only positive impact on the municipality of Hatfield,” said co-founder Milo Childs Campolo. He added that the company has hired more than a dozen people, and that it supports other town businesses, such as RK Miles, the Smithsonian Chowderhouse and Waxwing restaurant.
Select Board members Edmund Jaworski and Brian Moriarty both said they need to learn about the impacts the business has had by speaking to municipal departments.
“We internally need to get a little more information and do more research,” Moriarty said.
Board members pledged to do that soon so a decision can be made.
Prior to Northampton waiving its impact fees, the city estimated it spent about $1 million of that money on projects like road repairs, such as near the Conz Street location of New England Treatment Access.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
