Whitman Select Board Adopts Model Cannabis Agreement, Debates Former School Property Use

WHITMAN, MA - August 20 - The Whitman Select Board voted Tuesday night to adopt a model Host Community Agreement for cannabis businesses in an effort to speed up the approval process with the Cannabis Control Commission.

The decision came after learning that current HCA for Berkeley Botanicals had been rejected by the CCC, delaying the business opening.

"Anything other than the model HCA that has been put out by the CCC is unlikely to be approved on the next round of review," said Town Attorney Peter Sumners.

The board agreed to adopt the model HCA conditional upon applicants seeking further approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals. This move is expected to allow Berkeley Botanicals and other cannabis businesses to open sooner.

"I think we can cobble together between the bylaw, the special permit, and the model HCA, I don't know, 90% of the protections we have existing," said Justin Evans, a board member.

John Goldrosen, chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, supported the decision, stating, "I certainly feel that it ought to be a condition, if you're going to go with a model host community agreement that doesn't have some of those provisions, that the applicant should have to come back to us, apply for an amended special permit."

In other business, the board debated the future of the former Park Avenue School property, which has not been used as a school since 2005-2006. The property has a deed restriction limiting its use to “school purposes.”

Sumners presented several options for the property, including selling it or repurposing it for community use. He noted that the Attorney General's office would likely be more supportive of uses similar to school purposes.

Board member Shawn Kain expressed opposition to selling the property, stating, "Personally, I'm not interested in selling that property at all. I think holding on to the property and finding a way to develop it in a way that the community would benefit from is important."

Suggestions for the property's use included an amphitheater, parks, baseball fields, or a community center. Evans noted that Community Preservation funds could potentially be used for development.

"We have community preservation funds that have been largely untapped. So we have a pool of money to do an amphitheater I think is a great idea or parks, baseball fields, something like that," Evans said.

The board discussed the possibility of seeking public input on the property's future use. Board member Dan Salvucci suggested, "I think poll the town what they'd like to see go there."

No final decision was made regarding the Park Avenue School property, with the board agreeing to continue discussions and potentially seek community input.

The board also set December 2 as the date for a Special Town Meeting to consider amending South Shore Regional Vocational School District’s Regional Agreement to address how Capital Debt is assessed to member towns. The timing of this is important to get ahead of the January district wide vote on a new High School.