Owners of Top Shelf Cannseurs are awaiting approval of their provisional license from the state Cannabis Control Commission.

HUDSON – For the second time in two months, a proposed marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility on Brent Drive was continued.

Ryan Cohen, head of sales and front-end manager for Top Shelf Cannaseurs, requested a continuance of the hearing until the Zoning Board of Appeals’ May 14 meeting.

The company is awaiting approval of its provisional license from the state Cannabis Control Commission. Marijuana retail and manufacturing facilities must have all licenses and permits before applying for a special permit with the town.

Cohen and Scott Bulkeley – both military eterans – have secured a lease at the 11 Brent Drive facility and signed a community host agreement with the town.

Residents of the nearby Sauta Farm, an over-55 condo complex, say odors and noise from the facility will ruin their quality of life.

Top Shelf’s owners say they are working with a sound engineer and one of the state’s most experienced cannabis engineering firms to ensure that any noise or odors do not annoy residents of the Sauta Farm development. Top Shelf hired a neutral mechanical engineer team to peer review its odor mitigation plan.

Sauta Farm residents are unhappy with the proximity of the facility to their homes. Michael Bryne, a resident of the development, told the Daily News in February that his home is less than 80 feet from Top Shelf’s building. The closest point of his residential building is about 22 feet from the property line of 11 Brent Drive and 77 feet from the back of the industrial building. His master bedroom is about 30 feet from the property and 87 feet from the back of the building.

The town’s marijuana industrial overlay district – which allows marijuana cultivation and manufacturing on Brent Drive, Fox Road and Kane Industrial Drive – does not include a minimum distance requirement from residential properties. The town’s bylaw for medical and recreational marijuana retail shops requires those facilities to be at least 300 feet from a residential zoning district.

Hudson’s marijuana overlay district was developed at the encouragement of selectmen. During the process, there were three or four open meeting discussions with the board. A public forum was held by the Planning Board and Finance Committee, before the matter went to Town Meeting in 2018. During those sessions, the notion of a restriction to residential uses didn’t come up, town officials told the Daily News in February.

Sauta Farm residents have requested that the Zoning Board of Appeals put Top Shelf’s special permit request on hold indefinitely, until the town conducts a pre-construction application with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Jeff Malachowski can be reached at 508-490-7466 or jmalachowski@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JmalachowskiMW.