Published: 4/13/2022 5:08:27 PM
Modified: 4/13/2022 5:07:17 PM
GREENFIELD — In response to a firm’s potential interest in land on Country Club Road for a marijuana cultivation site, residents are petitioning for a moratorium on any outdoor cultivation approvals until property line setbacks are established.
A joint public hearing by the Economic Development Committee and the Planning Board on the setback proposals is set for May 10, at 6 p.m.
At-Large City Councilor Christine Forgey, who lives in the area of Country Club Road, told councilors the issue goes back further than Country Club Ventures LLC’s interest in the land.
“The state made suggestions on zoning, and we just went ahead and approved what the state had,” Forgey said of the process that followed the state’s legalization of marijuana in 2017 and Greenfield’s approval of the retail sale of it. “Whereas the state recommendations were that it can’t be near schools, it can’t be near hospitals and it can’t be near playgrounds, it didn’t actually address densely populated neighborhoods.”
She said the petition seeks to consider zoning rules and regulations that are more specific to those areas.
“It is agriculture, I won’t argue that,” Forgey said. “But there are elements to this that are evolving quicker than we can adjust to at this point.”
She noted that the potential proposal of concern — by a group that has so far only hosted a community…
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Published: 4/13/2022 5:08:27 PM
Modified: 4/13/2022 5:07:17 PM
GREENFIELD — In response to a firm’s potential interest in land on Country Club Road for a marijuana cultivation site, residents are petitioning for a moratorium on any outdoor cultivation approvals until property line setbacks are established.
A joint public hearing by the Economic Development Committee and the Planning Board on the setback proposals is set for May 10, at 6 p.m.
At-Large City Councilor Christine Forgey, who lives in the area of Country Club Road, told councilors the issue goes back further than Country Club Ventures LLC’s interest in the land.
“The state made suggestions on zoning, and we just went ahead and approved what the state had,” Forgey said of the process that followed the state’s legalization of marijuana in 2017 and Greenfield’s approval of the retail sale of it. “Whereas the state recommendations were that it can’t be near schools, it can’t be near hospitals and it can’t be near playgrounds, it didn’t actually address densely populated neighborhoods.”
She said the petition seeks to consider zoning rules and regulations that are more specific to those areas.
“It is agriculture, I won’t argue that,” Forgey said. “But there are elements to this that are evolving quicker than we can adjust to at this point.”
She noted that the potential proposal of concern — by a group that has so far only hosted a community…
