Benton County planners OK Gentry marijuana facility
BENTONVILLE — Benton County planners, on Sept. 20, approved a proposal for a medical marijuana cultivation facility near Gentry.
The Planning Board voted 5-2 in favor of the proposal. Voting yes were Bob Bracy, Sean Colleyge, Ron Homeyer, Terry Maienschein and Rick Williams. Voting no were Stephen Torrez and Ashley Tucker.
Several board members expressed reservations about the nature of the facility but said they were obligated to follow state laws and planning regulations.
“I have to put aside all my personal thoughts,” Homeyer said. “If they have complied with all county rules, I have no choice but to vote for it.”
The Planning Board was considering plans submitted by Therapeutic Health Corporation for about 20 acres at 10004 and 10012 Bloomfield North Road, northwest of Gentry. The plans call for renovating a poultry house on the site for the cultivation facility and a house on the property would be used as an office. The plans show security fencing, lighting, and other screening and buffering required to separate the business from adjacent properties.
The Planning Board tabled action on the plan at its Sept. 6 meeting after raising questions about security and plans for cooperation with law enforcement as one area where the board members wanted to hear more information. Ronnie Rateliff, representing Therapeutic Health Corporation, told the board the company worked with the Arkansas State Police on security but received no response from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
Taylor Reamer, with the Planning Department, said the planning staff also contacted the Sheriff’s Office on the matter and received no response.
Another area of concern was the operation of a nonprofit organization described as a “youth ranch” on property immediately south of the planned facility. County planners said the state restricts medical marijuana facilities, barring them from operating within 3,000 feet of churches, schools and day-care facilities. Reamer said it’s unclear if a youth ranch would be included in any of those classifications.
Possible wastewater problems from the facility was another issue. At the Sept. 6 meeting Marvin Park, representing the applicants, said the growing facility would use an “aeroponic” system, which he described as a “selfcontained system” recirculating the water used. Reamer said Wednesday the state Health Department has authority over the septic system on the site and Health Department approval of the system is among the requirements for county approval.
More than a dozen area residents spoke against the facility at the Sept. 6 meeting, citing concerns about crime, traffic, flooding or other waterquality problems, decreasing property value and what they said will be an intrusion of an industrial operation into a rural area.
Four people spoke at the Sept. 20 meeting echoing those same concerns. Bob Bland, justice of the peace for District 11, which includes the site of the proposed facility, said the intended new use is incompatible with the established residential and agricultural uses and asked the board to reject the application.
Rateliff said after the meeting that the company wants to do what it can to ease the concerns of the community.
“They are a big concern to us,” he said. “We want to keep the peace.”
Rateliff said the state will make the final decision on the issue when it approves the five cultivation facilities for the state.
“It’s all contingent on what the state does,” he said. “There’s 100 applicants out there and only five are going to be awarded.”