Forum on marijuana operation takes place tonight in Bellingham
BELLINGHAM – Residents here will get the chance to get information and ask questions about a second marijuana grow site that is proposed to be built on William Way.
A community outreach meeting will be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Bellingham Library where the applicant, Theory Farms, LLC, and owner, Williams Way Partners, LLC, will provide an overview of its plan to construct a cannabis cultivation facility at 26 William Way, which would be located near the existing 9,058-square-foot Good Chemistry of Massachusetts medical marijuana cultivation facility at 20 William Way. The street in question is an industrial area and marijuana facilities are limited to such zones in Bellingham.
Stoneham, Mass.-based Theory Farms, LLC is proposing to construct a 50,000-square-foot indoor grow facility to the rear of 24 Williams Way to cultivate marijuana for the adult use market. The project would also include associated site improvements.
One of the questions that is likely to arise at next week’s community outreach meeting is traffic.
A traffic report by engineers Ron Müller & Associates says the proposed Theory Farms operation is expected to generate 50 vehicle trips (33 in and 17 out) during the weekday morning peak hour and 24 vehicle trips during the weekday afternoon peak hour. Because William Way is a dead-end street, all traffic will travel to and from the north of Industrial Way toward Route 140.
According to the report, William Way will experience traffic volume increases averaging just under one additional vehicle per minute during the morning peak hour and one additional vehicle every 2.5 minutes during the afternoon peak hour.
The proposed facility will be accessed via a new subdivision street (Industrial Drive) to be constructed at the location of the existing driveway to 24 William Way. Industrial Way will therefore serve both facilities.
In June, Good Chemistry held a similar community outreach meeting, which is required by the state legislature, to allow for public comment on their petition to grow adult/ recreational-use marijuana at their existing facility, in addition to the marijuana they are approved to grow for medical purposes.
Good Chemistry has three grow facilities and three retail facilities in Colorado in addition to the medical marijuana grow facility in Bellingham.
Earlier this year, town residents voted to support a ban to prohibit recreational marijuana establishments from setting up shop in town, including independent testing laboratories, marijuana product manufacturers, and marijuana retailers. The ban does not include marijuana cultivators, which is allowed by special permit only in the town’s industrial zone.