WESTBROOK – A Michigan-based maker of marijuana-infused drinks got an initial nod of approval Monday to open a manufacturing center in a mostly residential neighborhood.
Emerald Canning Partners and Boston-based Adams Avenue Asset Management received unanimous approval from the Westbrook Planning Commission to put a marijuana food and beverage manufacturer in the industrial building at 1244 Old Clinton Road.
The application still needs approval from the Zoning Commission.
Unlike a marijuana retail store on Boston Post Road that has drawn strong opposition from residents of the shoreline town, the proposal for a marijuana edibles manufacturer had a positive reception from the commission.
The applicant Drew Breuninger told the commission that the facility would only be used for manufacturing. There would be no retail, no customers and no cash on site, he said. And the new use of the building wouldn’t have an impact on the surrounding neighborhood, he said.
“If we didn’t have to be here [to get approval from the commission], no one would even know that we were there, to be honest,” Breuninger said. “Ultimately, that’s the safest and most secure. There’s not going to be signage. If we were just operating as a manufacturing facility for this intended use right now without going through public hearings, no one would know we existed.”
The one-story, more than 12,000-square-foot industrial building set along railroad tracks – just a…
