Officials want such a facility to pay taxes despite its nonprofit status under state law.
HOLYOKE -- An ordinance to regulate medical marijuana facilities here might be nearly done, with a Planning Board vote set for Tuesday.
The board's vote on the five-page draft would be a recommendation to the City Council Ordinance Committee, which will make its own recommendation to the full City Council for a final vote possibly later this month, Principal Planner Jeffrey F. Burkott said Wednesday.
The Planning Board vote is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall Annex in a fourth-floor conference room.
The Ordinance Committee and the Planning Board on Jan. 14 closed the joint public hearing on the proposed medical marijuana ordinance that began Nov. 26. The hearing continued on Dec. 10 and wrapped up Jan. 14.
The state is expected to award licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries in the next several weeks. Voters in 2012 permitted medical marijuana shops by approving a statewide ballot question, 63 percent to 37 percent.
Under the law, the state can license up to 35 dispensaries, including up to five in each county.
Marijuana is prescribed to treat nausea, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other pain relief, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Heriberto FloresAt the hearings, officials have heard about a proposal for a medical marijuana facility at Race and Appleton streets. Brian P. Lees, former state Senate minority leader, and Heriberto Flores, president of the New England Farm Workers Council, are eyeing that site and have formed a nonprofit company called Debilitating Medical Treatment Centers.
The required nonprofit nature of such facilities in the state has concerned officials here who say they want such an operation to be a tax-paying entity. Lees and Flores have said repeatedly at the hearings, including on Jan. 14, their facility would pay taxes.
"This is a business. We are willing to invest," Flores said.
The proposed ordinance states that its purpose is to address concerns of residents who might find such a facility objectionable. The goal is to ensure the health, safety and general well being of the community, the proposal states.
The proposal also states:
- Such facilities would be permitted only in areas zoned for industrial uses subject to site plan review by the Planning Board.
- No marijuana can be smoked or otherwise consumed on the property housing such a facility. The facility "in no event" can be open to the public.
- Acquisition, cultivation, possession, processing and administration of marijuana and related products must take place at a fixed location within a fully enclosed building. Outside storage is prohibited.
- Ventilation must occur without dispersal of chemicals and other products used in the cultivation or processing into the air.
- Such a facility cannot be located in a building with a doctor, pharmacy or other professional authorized to prescribe medical marijuana.
- Operators must give the city a security plan for the facility, including details about safeguarding the storage of marijuana.