To the Editor:
With adult use of marijuana now legal in the State of Massachusetts and with the Great Barrington Selectboard opting to not put a moratorium on retail, manufacture and cultivation in place, the Planning Board has worked since last August to craft a zoning bylaw to provide local control for siting marijuana establishments in the Town.
Because we are concerned with providing various commercial development opportunities while balancing the need to protect community character, the Planning Board’s bylaw requires ALL marijuana establishments to undergo site plan review. Site plan review controls the physical aspects of the site development such as lighting, fencing, landscaping, how far back from property lines structures are placed, the exterior color and materials of a building, where driveways and parking go, etc. The zoning bylaw MUST pass or we lose local site plan control.
Because it would be inappropriate to allow marijuana establishments, particularly growing facilities, everywhere, we are proposing to restrict cultivation to those parts of town zoned industrial or to rural areas (R2 and R4 zones), where much of the town’s farmland is already, and only where someone has at least 5 acres of land.
Br Remember, the facilities will ALL need site plan review if we pass our local zoning bylaw. Without a local zoning bylaw, we will have none of these controls.
Because we want farmers to be able to diversify and support themselves, we should not overly regulate small marijuana cultivation facilities. Therefore, the proposed bylaw does not unnecessarily burden small (less than 10,000 square feet of indoor cultivation) facilities with the special permit process. These facilities would still undergo site plan review where the Planning Board will address issues of setbacks, lighting, screening/landscaping and community character.
Because we recognize the potentially bigger impacts of larger indoor cultivation facilities, the Planning Board’s zoning bylaw requires a Planning Board special permit AND site plan review for all proposed facilities in the industrial zone and on rural area parcels larger than 5 acres.
Let’s keep in mind, too, that the State has very prescribed regulations for all marijuana establishments, and that any farmer, business person, or entrepreneur that decides to venture into the marijuana business will be undertaking a costly and complex permitting process with the State. As part of that process, they will need to openly engage the community through a public outreach and communications plan and enter into a host community agreement with the Select Board.
The State requires the Selectboard to participate early in the process through a host community agreement. At that point, the Selectboard will have the authority to decide whether or not to agree to host a particular marijuana establishment in the community. Then the process would, rightly, continue to the Planning Board for site plan and/or special permit. And, at anytime, the Select Board, can provide their comments or concerns to the Planning Board for consideration in the planning process. To be clear, for any marijuana establishment to be licensed by the State, they must have explicit community and Selectboard support. Neither the public nor the Selectboard are cut out of the loop by the Planning Board’s proposed bylaw.
The Selectboard’s proposed zoning amendment inappropriately takes siting control from the Planning Board. This is unnecessary because the Selectboard will already have primary local control for marijuana establishments through the host community agreement process required by the State.
We urge you to attend the Annual Town Meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at Monument Mountain Regional High School, to vote NO on the Select Board’s amendment to the marijuana establishments bylaw, and to vote YES on Article 19 so we can maintain local siting control.
Brandee Nelson
Great Barrington
The writer is chair of the Great Barrington Planning Board.
