SUNDERLAND — The Select Board has approved a host community agreement for Gracious Greens, which plans to open the town’s first retail marijuana shop.
The company, which held a community outreach meeting in November, is planning to open a dispensary at 267 Amherst Road, Suite 2, and has completed the first hurdle with the Select Board signing the agreement.
“From my perspective, we had productive conversations,” said Town Administrator Geoff Kravitz. “Ultimately we came to a consensus on a host community agreement.”
Kravitz said the agreement will last for five years. Gracious Greens will pay a 3% community impact fee and must make charitable contributions from that impact fee amount.
Select Board Chairman Tom Fydenkevez said he was specifically looking for Gracious Greens to provide charitable donations to organizations that support those recovering from drug addiction.
“What we’re trying to do is find an organization that would help with people recovering with drug dependencies,” Fydenkevez said. “From our experience in our position, programs that help people are very important.”
Fydenkevez said Gracious Greens “didn’t have a problem” with the charity stipulation and was cooperative in the negotiation process.
He added the company needs to commit to a traffic study as well because of the board’s “serious concern” about traffic flow.
“We just wanted to convey to Gracious Greens our serious concerns about traffic and safety of pedestrians,” Fydenkevez said. “We just wanted to reinforce that it really is a serious concern of ours and they didn’t have a problem with that.”
Pete D’Agostino, a Gracious Greens consultant, said the company is happy to negotiate with Sunderland as it prepares to bring the marijuana industry to town.
“We thought it was a great process,” D’Agostino said. “We represent clients in a lot of municipalities and this was certainly one of the best experiences we had.”
With the host community agreement approval, Gracious Greens is on its way to becoming the fourth permitted marijuana shop in the few-mile radius of Amherst, Sunderland and Whately. There are several dispensaries south of Sunderland in Amherst, and two neighboring dispensaries have been approved just two miles west of town at the former Sugarloaf Shoppes at the intersection of Routes 5, 10 and 116.
From here, Gracious Greens must submit a special permit application and appear before several town boards before the dispensary can open.