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A public hearing on Top Shelf Cannaseur’s special permit request from the town is scheduled for May 14.

HUDSON – The state Cannabis Control Commission Thursday granted Top Shelf Cannaseurs a provisional license, a step forward in the company’s efforts to open a marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility on Brent Drive.

Ryan Cohen and Scott Bulkeley have secured a lease at the 11 Brent Drive facility and signed a community host agreement with the town. They are seeking a special permit from the town, but needed to secure their provisional license from the state Cannabis Control Commission before the Hudson Zoning Board of Appeals holds a public hearing on the special permit request. The public hearing is scheduled for May 14.

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Residents of the nearby Sauta Farm 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 Sauta Farm. Top Shelf hired a neutral mechanical engineering team to peer review its odor mitigation plan.

Sauta Farm residents are unhappy with the proximity of the facility to their homes. Michael Byrne, a resident of the development and opponent of the project, 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.

On 4/20 no celebration for the state’s marijuana retail industry. The coronavirus pandemic is hurting the adult-use pot businesses.

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 be at least 300 feet from a residential zoning district.

Hudson’s marijuana overlay district was development 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 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. 

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