The Board of Selectmen discussed adjustments to the town’s procedure for negotiating host community agreements with marijuana businesses that plan to operate in Wareham, before approving two such agreements during their Feb. 23 meeting.

Following concerns from some members of the board that the town does not collect enough information from business owners who plan to operate cannabis-based businesses in Wareham, a new procedure was discussed.

Ken Buckland, director of planning and community development, explained that currently, people who wish to start “an adult-use marijuana establishment” in Wareham must submit a letter of intent to his office, along with documentation of the owners, the address of the proposed business, a copy of the business plan and some other information. Next, the applicant holds a community outreach meeting. 

From there, the Board of Selectmen must authorize the town to negotiate a host community agreement, which allows the town to set conditions, charge a community impact fee and clarify the responsibilities of the town and business owner. Once an agreement is negotiated, it must come before the Selectmen again and the board must vote to allow the town administrator to execute the agreement. Once business owners have reached an agreement with the town, they must complete state licensing through the Cannabis Control Commission.

Following the new procedure discussed Feb. 23, applicants will be required to submit more detailed information about themselves and their past business experience. 

“We wait for Director Buckland to vet the paperwork, and he sends it on and says, ‘this has the information you’re looking for, start the ball rolling,’” Selectman Peter Teitelbaum explained.

Once the paperwork is filled out to the satisfaction of town officials, the applicant will come before the Board of Selectmen for an introduction that might include answering some questions. After that, the applicant will hold its community outreach meeting.

The rest of the process will follow the old host community agreement procedure.

“Some of [the applicants] are very good in the information they provide; others are sort of weak,” said Selectmen Jim Munise, explaining his concerns. Munise said he wants to know who the applicants are, “not just a name — who they are and what they’ve done.”

By requiring more information from the applicant initially and asking them to come before the Board of Selectmen earlier in the process, the board hopes to dispel these concerns.

“It seems to me that when the individuals or the companies have the outreach meetings, I don’t know how many people go to those,” said Selectman Judith Whiteside. Buckland chimed in to say, “very few,” before Whiteside continued. “So if we brought [the applicant] before us, there would be an opportunity for a larger audience to know what might be coming into town.”

Buckland said this approach might help “generate discussion” with the applicants before the community outreach meetings.

Following the procedural discussion, the board voted to authorize Town Administrator Derek Sullivan to execute two host community agreements. 

The first agreement was with Trava, Inc., a proposed marijuana grower and manufacturer planning to open in Jordan Plaza at 3119 Cranberry Highway. This agreement was approved by the board in a 4-1 vote, with Selectman Jim Munise voting against approval.

The second agreement — approved unanimously — was with Smithers, for a marijuana testing lab that would be located at 790 Main Street. Before Smithers, a company that conducts environmental testing, would be allowed to begin testing cannabis products at its location next door to John W. Decas Elementary School, Town Meeting would need to approve a zero-foot setback from schools for marijuana testing facilities. 

The measure, which would require approval by two-thirds of voters, was initially set to be voted on at the fall 2020 Town Meeting. That article will likely be up for votes at a future Town Meeting.