Growing center proposal gets OK

Fine Fettle met with no public opposition at Bloomfield meeting

In the same week when some New Britain homeowners were organizing opposition to a proposed cannabis-growing center in their city, Bloomfield authorized one in that town with no public pushback at all.

Bloomfield’s planning and zoning commission unanimously approved a nearly 46,000-square-foot cultivation center Thursday night, with members mostly complimenting Fine Fettle for planning to build it.

At a hearing, seven people submitted letters of support and nobody either wrote or spoke in opposition. Fine Fettle promised an elaborate security system for the facility and pledged to seek local candidates for at least some of the new jobs.

Fine Fettle Chief Operating Officer Benjamin Zachs quickly did away with two common objections to indoor marijuana farms: The risk of offensive odors to neighbors, and the possibility of future conversion to retail sales instead of commercial production.

“We use carbon filter scrubs, we pressurize the air within our cultivation rooms, we also generally vent out through multiple places so there’s no condensed spot,” Zachs told the commission. “The cultivation of the plant is very different than consumption: There’s no burning of anything. All of our product is packaged in a self-contained area and then held in a Dea-regulated vault.”

Project architect Tim Crosby said the only smell comes during the plant’s flowering phase, when oils known as terpenes are produced.

“When there’s a large-scale flowering going on, there will be a Febreeze-like system. It won’t mask the odor; there’s a mist that attracts terpene odor molecules and takes them out of the air,” Crosby said.

“Modern odor control for

cannabis facilities has come a long way. We can’t say 100 percent there’ll be absolutely no odor, but odor control is being done successfully at most of the facilities in the United States. It’s at the top of the list of issues to be dealt with,” Crosby added.

Zachs repeatedly said the building will be used only for commercial production, but Commissioner Katie Blint asked for clarification about whether retail sales would be added later. Zachs’ answered simply “No.”

A marijuana-growing center proposed in New Britain has drawn fire from some residents who fear odors as well as traffic from retail sales. The proposal goes to a hearing Tuesday night by the city’s zoning appeals board.

Fine Fettle runs medical dispensaries as well as recreational marijuana outlets, but at the Bloomfield site will only grow, process, package and ship commercial quantities of marijuana to sell elsewhere, the company said.

The building will be put up on former farmland along Mosey Road, close to Home

Depot.

Fine Fettle plans to pave parking spaces for 67 cars, and designate space on the land for another 31 if there’s future hiring.

“We’d like to have the opportunity to expand the parking if the employment situation grows,” representative David Ziaks said.

Zachs said the plan is to have 40 to 90 workers in various shifts.

“Those jobs range from cultivation technicians and assistants, lab scientists and chemists,” he said.

Fine Fettle intends for at least half of its hiring to come from a field of minority applicants, and also will try to emphasize local candidates for production jobs as well as subcontractors during construction.

“We hope this is an economic driver for the town,” Zachs said.

Commission Barry Berson asked if anyone at the hybrid hearing wished to speak, but got only one question from the public about bike parking. Fine Fettle said it would provide facilities for workers who commute by bike.

“We don’t seem to have many people in this audience,” Berson said after a protracted silence.

“We hope this is an economic driver for the town.”

— Benjamin Zachs, chief operating officer for Fine Fettle