West Stockbridge — Following statements made by residents and the attorney for Wiseacre Farm, the West Stockbridge Select Board tabled a decision August 13 on the licensed cannabis growing facility’s odor-mitigation proposal in favor of holding a public meeting focused on experts discussing the project’s technology.
“The one thing that I have not had in this process that I really would have liked to have had or would like to have is [town consultant] Tech Environmental, [Wiseacre consultant] Byers [Scientific] in the same room, talking,” said Select Board Chair Andrew Potter, directing Town Administrator Marie Ryan to coordinate the session with all parties.
The issue has pitted the farm’s neighbors in West Stockbridge and Richmond against Wiseacre proponents over the skunk-like smell emanating from the facility at certain times during production.
Baker Street resident Joanne Yurman urged the Select Board to be vigilant in its review of Wiseacre’s proposal. Previously, she approached the dais, stating odors were already emanating from the farm “and moving up and down Baker Street.”
The farm is located at 42 Baker Street.
“I would just like to respectfully request that the board continue to consider the negative effects of the odor from Wiseacre Farm on the residents of West Stockbridge and Richmond in any decision you may take tonight,” Yurman said.
The topic was taken up after being continued during the prior meeting due to Wiseacre attorney Aaron Dubois being sick.
Wiseacre employee and West Stockbridge resident Brittany Daly, among other speakers who work at the farm, praised Wiseacre and its part-owner Jon Piasecki. “It gives numerous people steady, good income that they can actually survive on, and it’s a stress-free work environment,” she said.
Although some speakers voiced fear that the one-year-old company would be shut down, Potter said the Select Board wasn’t considering closing Wiseacre. “That’s not true,” he said. “Anybody who says that is misrepresenting this process and what we’ve been going through. We’re—in good faith according to an agreement signed by the town of West Stockbridge and Wiseacre Farm—pursuing an odor mitigation plan.”
The Host Community Agreement (HCA)—a document that covers how Wiseacre will function as a cannabis business in the town—provides that the farm must take “reasonable” steps to mitigate odors from its production, with reasonableness being under the town’s discretion. Pursuant to the HCA terms, Wiseacre paid the costs for Tech Environmental’s review of its plan as the town’s consultant.
According to Dubois, cannabis-growing facilities aren’t considered under the purview of the “right to farm,” and the site’s closure could be considered should there be a finding that the alleged noxious odors rise to the level of a “legal nuisance.”
“The level of reasonableness and the level of effort that has been put in by Wiseacre … is important,” he said. “And it’s valid because, worse comes to worst, this ultimately would go before a judge and the legal nuisance test is one of a balancing test. And it is important to the people who work at the farm. That’s part of the balancing test: the economic impact of what is potentially to be shut down.”
Following the January presentation of Wiseacre Farm’s 2023 annual report that included a novel odor-mitigation plan produced by Byers Scientific, West Stockbridge officials hired Tech Environmental as the town’s consultant to review the project that uses a plant-based agent and an agriculture fan to neutralize the skunk-like odors occurring around the late-summer and early-fall harvest time. Since October, residents of both West Stockbridge and nearby Richmond have decried the smells emanating from the field as interfering with the enjoyment of their property and daily life, dubious that the project would work to eliminate those odors.
According to Byers Scientific Vice President Josh Rembusch, air molecules containing a neutralizing agent, Ecosorb CNB 204, are deployed through nozzles running along the fence line and the fan directs the cannabis’ malodorous particles into a downslope back corner of the facility’s field where they bind with the neutralizing agent to combat the offending smell. Rembusch spoke to residents and town officials in April at the cannabis site.
On July 1, Tech Environmental President Mike Lannan presented the group’s review of the Byers proposal that covers part, or 20 percent, of the fence line with the nozzles that deploy the odor-neutralizing material. He recommended to the Select Board that, given the size of Wiseacre’s growing space, the facility employ a “continuous-fence-line system” for odor control. Wiseacre is classified by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission as a Tier 11 facility, meaning the entire canopy the business will cultivate is between 90,000 and 100,000 square feet, with the growing area outdoors.
Although Lannan said the Byers system is standard in the industry for indoor use, he questioned if, at 20 percent coverage, the partial-fence-line system and fan is enough to deter the malodors in an outdoor facility. At the time, Lannan posed to the Select Board to decide if Wiseacre should either shrink down the facility to a size he felt the proposed partial-fence odor-mitigation system could handle or add a full-fence system to accommodate the current amount of plant coverage. Additionally, he confirmed the product used in the process, Ecosorb, wouldn’t have an immediate impact on life or health.
The Select Board’s August 12 measure to offer a session with the experts of both the town and Wiseacre, includes time for its members to review a two-page memorandum provided by Dubois earlier in the day, with Potter stating he was “disappointed” in being given only a short period to review the document before the meeting. That memorandum can be found here.
Dubois responded that the late delivery was partly due to his having contracted COVID and his slow recovery.
The Dubois memorandum recites recent actions taken by Wiseacre towards odor mitigation, including beginning the preliminary installation of the system, altering its project design, doubling the coverage of one of the system’s processes, and performing a smoke test of the system’s first phase. That test video can be found here (courtesy of Wiseacre Farm) showing how the fan works to pull in the negative odor molecules to neutralize a cannabis smell.
The memorandum also responds to Tech Environmental’s presentation, stating the town’s consultant didn’t find the proposal to be “unreasonable,” was beyond the limited scope it was allowed, constituted a debate over methodology, hypothesized about conditions not in play, and opposed a “100 [percent] coverage fenceline system” as such a system would fail.
Dubois said a 100 percent-fence-line system would result in Ecosorb being sent into the air away from the farm and in all directions, including the direction of complainants’ homes. In his memorandum, he stated Wiseacre would add another large agriculture fan if needed.
The memorandum acknowledges that both parties to the HCA agreed “the natural outdoor growing of any agricultural product, including cannabis, does, from time to time, create some natural odor(s)” and that odor is “not harmful and of limited duration.” It stated Wiseacre has spent more than $200,000 to date on odor-mitigation efforts.
Although resident Gary Quadrozzi said he had not seen the web form that Wiseacre part-owner Jon Piasecki promised would be available to log odor complaints in real time, Piasecki provided the web form link so the newly installed weather-monitoring system can be used to gauge how and in what direction Ecosorb can be used to mitigate the smells. That link can be found here.
Both Select Board members Andrew Krouss and Kathleen Keresey agreed with Potter’s suggestion to continue the discussion in a special session with experts from both consultants. “We need to hear from the experts who understand the technology,” Keresey said.
At the meeting, Potter tabled an agenda item related to draft zoning bylaw changes proposed by the Planning Board covering short-term rentals and accessory dwelling units, citing recent state law changes.
