Ordinance committee continues public hearing on cannabis cooperative takeover of 1 Cabot Street

Holyoke’s Ordinance Committee on June 4 opened and then continued a public hearing on a special-permit application from Mass Cannabis Growers Cooperative LLC to operate a marijuana cultivation facility at 1 Cabot Street.

The committee paused consideration and continued the hearing to Monday, June 16, at 6:30 p.m., after members and the applicants discussed a May 28 planning-board letter that, according to the committee chair, stipulates the application “has to be treated like a brand new application.”

The applicants, consultant Ezra Parzybock and cooperative founder Brandon Gates, told the committee they plan no exterior or interior construction at the site and seek only a change in lessee and license-holder. “No changes to the site in the exterior or the interior are going to change,” Parzybock said, adding the cooperative will occupy the portion of the building that Milltown Agriculture previously used and will close a doorway that led to the area no longer leased by Milltown. The applicants said the operation will remain an indoor cultivation farm with no extraction activities onsite.

Applicants described the cooperative as a collection of small “micro” grow teams under a single umbrella license. Gates said the cooperative’s umbrella entity will handle testing, sales, delivery and compliance, while individual member teams will manage cultivation in separate rooms. He said the cooperative has about 15 member-owners but expects only two to five workers present on a typical day. “Instead of 15 employees that were there every day, full time workers as part of the previous operation, we’re reducing that at least threefold to maybe 5 workers that will be there on any given day,” Gates said.

Committee members asked about traffic and parking. The applicants showed a site plan indicating roughly 7 to 8 parking spaces allocated to the cooperative’s portion of the facility; they said Milltown’s prior full operation had about 15 employees onsite. Parzybock acknowledged the building uses a shared sally port, shared hallway and shared parking and said any change in traffic would be a reduction compared with the previously permitted operation. The applicant also noted that a gravel service road alongside a nearby train track has been suggested as a possible secondary entrance but said that corridor is state-owned and would require coordination with MassDOT and other agencies.

Committee members and applicants also discussed the planning-board letter, and Parzybock said the applicants would respond by submitting clarifications and would request waivers for items such as a new survey where a master survey already exists for the site. The committee said it did not expect the planning board to make the final decision and that the ordinance committee’s recommendation will go to the full city council.

The committee voted to continue the public hearing to June 16 at 6:30 p.m.; the continuation motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The committee also instructed staff and the applicants to coordinate with the planning department and provide responses to the planning-board comments prior to the continued hearing.

The matter will return to the Ordinance Committee on June 16 for further review and possible recommendation to the full council.