NEW BEDFORD – Metro Harvest Inc.’s five-year pursuit of a recreational marijuana retail shop in New Bedford seemed to close successfully with two unanimous Planning Board approvals in March.
It would be the city’s second marijuana retail shop, following Ascend New Bedford’s February opening on Coggeshall Street.
The board OK’d a special permit for the marijuana shop and a site plan review to construct the shop – a 3,600-square-foot, single-story building at the rear of a Church Street lot that also has frontage on Park Avenue and Tarkiln Hill Road. It’s referred to in the developer’s host community agreement with the city as 507-513 Church St.
However, an appeal on the special permit was filed in Bristol County Superior Court on April 18 that would annul the board’s decision.
It was filed by Michael W. Panagakos of Panagakos Development in Dartmouth, who owns nearby property at 606 Tarkiln Road, which had at one time been considered as a site for Metro Harvest.
The city’s first host community agreement in 2019 with Bridgewater’s Metro Harvest Inc. listed 606 Tarkiln Road as the proposed shop’s site.
Cannabis shop relocated to area near a church
The agreement was later amended to the 507-513 Church St. location.
According to the appeal, the state Cannabis Control Commission was not notified of the change in location, and that should nullify the Planning Board OK.
It’s also argued in the appeal that the Planning Board “failed to recognize and account for the presence of a church…
