Millville signs deal with pot cultivators
MILLVILLE – The town has officially inked a money deal with Blackstone Valley Cultivation Co., which will guarantee the town $300,000 a year for five years or 3 percent of gross sales whichever is greater.
At a meeting Tuesday, Selectmen Chairman Joseph Rapoza said the board signed a community host agreement with Blackstone Valley Cultivation Co. co-owners Cassandra Heneault and Lisa Cadan, who are applying for a cultivation license from the state to establish a marijuana growing and processing operation at 141 Lincoln St., which could generate a whopping $10 million in year in gross sales.
To be licensed by the state, a marijuana establishment must execute a host community agreement with the municipality in which it intends to be located. A host community agreement allows municipalities to essentially set parameters on the operation of a marijuana business and establish an annual impact fee to the town to offset the risks of a marijuana business.
According to the conditions of the agreement between Millville and Blackstone Valley Cultivation Co., the town will receive $50,000 at the end of the first complete calendar month of operations, and a second payment of $50,000 on the first day of the fourth month of operations.
A third payment of $100,000 would be made at the end of month seven, and the fourth payment of
$100,000 would be made at dthe end of month 10.
Should 3 percent of the gross revenue exceed the $300,000, the remaining funds will be made payable at the end of month 13. d As part of the agreement, dBlackstone Valley Cultivation agrees to pay the town a one-time sum of $100,000 for education, substance abuse awareness and prevention or any other community venture. r Cadan and Heneault, medical marijuana patients and dpatient advocates since 2015 own and operate a cultivation and manufacturing business in Providence under the name of Elle-Cie, LLC, which has dbeen doing business since t2017. Prior to 2016, Heneault was a cultivator of medical marijuana for Rhode Island’s compassion centers, while Cadan has more than 20 years experience as a marketing consultant.
The proposed cultivation and manufacturing facility in Millville would be located at 141 Lincoln St., which is a residential home in a “commercial business” zone that the company is under contract to to purchase. The company’s business offices would be located inside the house and the cultivation and manufacturing operations would be housed in an existing 1,700-square-foot steel building in the back. If approved, the company would eventually construct a third 5,000-square-foot building for manufacturing and storage followed by a 10,000-square-foot building for cultivation.
The company would employee six to eight people for the manufacturing and cultivation part of the business, which would include a variety of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) products such as edi- bles and tinctures.
The business would be similar to Rhode Island Medical Marijuana Cultivation Company in Providence, a small, family-run, self-funded business in operation for just over a year that provides medical marijuana wholesale to licensed compassion centers that operate in Rhode Island. The only difference is that the marijuana grown in Millville will be sold to Massachusetts licensed marijuana businesses only.
On-site security would include secure fencing around the perimeter of the property; 24-hour monitoring with cameras and alarms; and the possibility of security guards. Product stockpiles would be kept in a 900-pound safe vaulted to the floor.
All waste product from the manufacturing would be hauled off site by a compost company.