Yarmouth considers hard line on marijuana cultivation

From the Yarmouth Register


YARMOUTH —


Bill Snowden IV, owner of Yarmouth’s Hawks Wing Farm, says his motivation for wanting to use the property to cultivate medical marijuana are deeply personal. Snowden’s grandfather died of complications from AIDS, his grandmother from pancreatic and liver cancer. Both of their suffering could have been alleviated, he says, had medical marijuana been legal at the time.


“It wasn’t easy to see that,” Snowden says. “My grandparents could’ve had relief.”


Not long after a measure legalizing medical marijuana was passed overwhelmingly by Massachusetts voters last November, Snowden began searching for ways to be a part of the new industry. Growing the crop was a natural choice, he says, given his background at Hawks Wing, where the 23-year-old has worked since he was 15.


“I take pride in the property,” Snowden says. “There are 900 fruit trees here, and I helped plant every one.”


Snowden researched groups seeking licenses to distribute medical marijuana in the commonwealth, and settled on Planting Hope, a nonprofit organization planning to open a dispensary in Boston. Under the deal he subsequently struck with the organization, Hawks Wing would supply that dispensary with marijuana.


Substantial renovations of the property would be necessary, with new greenhouse space being added, and security firm LAN-TEL Communications being contracted to plan fencing, lighting, cameras, and other security measures.


Now the project may be approaching its first major hurdle. Appearing before the Yarmouth Planning Board on Nov. 6, Snowden, Planting Hope’s Jonathan Napoli, and Robert Speicher of LAN-TEL, met with considerable skepticism.


The board has been working to draft a new bylaw governing medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation sites, which it hopes to have ready for a vote at the spring Town Meeting. Board members questioned Snowden, Napoli, and Speicher on every aspect of the plan, beginning with security.


“The security around it is extremely robust,” said Napoli. “We’d have locked facilities inside locked facilities.”


Besides added fencing, and locks operated by passkeys or biometric scanners, the plan calls for security cameras to operate around the clock, with a direct feed to the Yarmouth police station. LAN-TEL already handles the YPD’s camera system, and Speicher said adding a connection to Hawks Wing would not be difficult.


“This is going to be the most closely watched thing around,” Napoli said, adding that the exact location of security cameras could be tailored to police specifications. “Whatever they want to do with it is fine with us. We would want it to be monitored.”


Despite the added security, Napoli said, the alterations to the farm would not alter its appearance. “It’s really not going to look much different than how it looks now.”


Board members also raised the issue of how the group would conduct its finances, pointing out that banks have been hesitant to handle money for similar ventures, fearing backlash from the federal government.


Napoli said Planting Hope had conducted encouraging talks with several credit unions, and that the U.S. government will likely provide guidance on the matter to financial institutions soon. “That is something that’s definitely being worked out at the federal level,” he said. “No one wants to have an all-cash business.”


The largest obstacle facing the project may be the farm’s location. Since Hawk’s Wing lies outside the two areas of Yarmouth the board is considering zoning for medical marijuana uses—one near Exit 7 of Route 6, the other near Exit 8—cultivation at the farm will likely hinge on whether or not the crop constitutes agriculture, which is protected from zoning restrictions by state law. The state has yet to give a definite answer to that question.


The planning board appears to be leaning away from recognizing marijuana cultivation as agriculture. “I have a hard time, in my own mind, thinking of this as an agricultural use,” said board member Norman Weare.


Brad Goodwin agreed. “To stretch the definition from growing green beans and tomatoes to cannabis is a bit of a stretch.”


Chairman Chris Vincent said guidance from the state is needed. “I think a higher authority should be making that decision for us.”


Napoli said marijuana cultivation should be considered agriculture. “It is going to be treated as an agricultural commodity,” he said. “It’s heavily regulated agriculture, but it’s still agriculture.”


Goodwin suggested the bylaw could be constructed in such a way as to position Yarmouth as a possible test case for the question, refusing to acknowledge the agricultural exemption for marijuana, and possibly provoking a lawsuit.


“If Mr. Napoli and Mr. Snowden really want to have an agricultural farm in Yarmouth, I think they should hire a lawyer and take us to court,” Goodwin said.


Snowden says he hopes to be allowed to appear before the planning board again in the near future, to discuss the issue further. That could come as soon as the board’s next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 20. The board will take up the issue of medical marijuana again on the 20th, but it is unclear at this time whether Snowden’s group will return for that meeting