Lee — Marijuana business grower Harsh Patel took the hot seat during the Lee Select Board’s November 18 meeting, responding to allegations of owing back taxes and delinquent water bills to the town as well as facing neighbors who argued that the “skunk-like” odors emanating from the facility have interfered with the quality of their lives.
Patel is the CEO and founder of Green Theory Cultivation LLC, doing business as Aruna Marijuana Cultivator, that began operations at 845 Pleasant Street pursuant to a license granted by the Cannabis Control Commission in August 2020. The company’s Host Community Agreement (HCA) with Lee—that defines how it will operate within the community—requires the payment of all property taxes and water bills. A copy of that agreement can be found here.
Ironically, that contract was executed on August 6, 2024, by Gordon Bailey when he was chair of the Select Board, on which he still serves. As a neighbor to the cultivation facility, Bailey and his wife have been the sole complainants to the recurring odor issues for which Patel had to previously answer to the dais in past sessions. Bailey told attendees that he has had to close up his windows in the summer and detailed the account of one neighbor who could not attend the meeting but related that he has had to retreat inside his home during the summer as the smell outside “made him sick to his stomach.”
The town has long tried to work out a resolution with the facility, returning funds collected in accordance with the HCA back to the business to address its odor-mitigation issues. “We’ve tried to be a very fair partner on our end,” said Select Board Chair Sean Regnier.
Frustrated, Bailey acknowledged “it seems like, in a way, we have tried to bend over [backwards] with you and make sure this would work for you,” referring to prior discussions with Patel. He said his and his wife’s complaints to Patel stopped “because it didn’t make a damn bit of difference” to the CEO, who would reply that the conversation was “noted” or say, “I’ll check the weather.”
“It’s sickening when you’re close to it,” Bailey said of the smell.
Although he noted that he has seen progress in the past—with Patel using about $74,000 of those HCA funds to make changes to the facility’s HVAC system resulting in reduced smells coming from the site—the malodors returned upon discovering that the prior improvements were no longer employed.
Patel countered that the mitigation program used a “highly caustic” chemical, destroying essential systems within the walls of the building. He told the group that “no formal filings” against his company have been made to date, a proposition confirmed by the dais, and that he has logged all of Bailey’s complaints.
“I absolutely appreciate the opportunity to do business in this town,” Patel said.
Bailey responded that he has received complaints from other neighbors who share his opinion.
During the recent meeting, abutters spoke out about the problem plaguing the neighborhood, attesting to the malodorous smell as well as the unsightly exterior of the Green Theory building. One neighbor replied that her daycare provider noticed her two-year-old child smelled from marijuana.
Additionally, Green Theory’s property taxes totaling $176,000 remain unpaid, as do $136,000 in water fees. Regnier outlined potential remedies for all the problems faced by the cultivator, including shutting off the facility’s water, seeking fines for odor issues that violate local zoning laws, and revoking the HCA thereby terminating relations with the town of Lee.
“The property taxes and the water fees, they speak for themselves,” Select Board member Robert “Bob” Jones said. “But the odor issues—all permits that we issue are contractual agreements and not with just the three of us sitting here but they’re contractual agreements with your neighbors, with the residents of the town of Lee who make these bylaws. We act as facilitators, but you’re actually in violation of your agreement with the residents of the town of Lee, not only the immediate neighbors but everybody in town.”
Along with company representative James McMahon, Patel agreed to meet with the town collector on November 20 to set up a payment plan for the property tax and water debts owed to the municipality and restart a conversation about a hybrid odor-mitigation system, reporting back to the Select Board at their next meeting on December 2.
“Personally, I would like to continue to work and find some sort of compromise that you guys can still function, and, hopefully, we can address the odor and these other issues,” Regnier said.
