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Date: 12/31/2021
BELCHERTOWN – After purchasing a lease for a cannabis cultivation business in June of 2021, representatives of CLCASH met with Belchertown residents for a community outreach meeting on Dec. 27.
Marvin Cable, an attorney representing the business, said the plan is to create a cultivation facility.
“We hope to be located at 401 Mill Valley Rd. in Belchertown and this would be a cultivator, this would not be a retailer or any other type of delivery service, just indoor cultivation,” he said.
Cable explained that one unique part of the cannabis licensing process is a requirement for the business to have a positive impact on the community.
“We have to provide a plan that is very specific and helps the community. It has to have specific intentions, it has to be measurable, we have to see if this plan actually worked and we have to submit this yearly to the Cannabis Control Commission to see if we are having a positive impact on the community,” he said. “This would include volunteering and generally giving back to the community.”
Jason Snodgrass, an investor in the business, said one of the next steps is securing a community host agreement with the town.
“Part of this process entails getting a host community agreement established with Belchertown and that can take some time. Hopefully we can pass those hurdles and begin the contract work on the inside of the building once we get our provisional license,” he said.
Charles Crapps, the owner of CLCASH, who also owns several other cannabis businesses in Maine, said the hope is to start growing in the summer of 2022.
“I would like to have plants in there by this summer, maybe June or July to start getting them in there. I think we would be looking at a three-to-four-month construction time depending on the economy. We do have minimal construction to be done, the main thing is redoing the electrical, security, hanging the equipment, heating, air condition and we will be putting a well in as well,” he said.
From his experience, Cable said it generally takes about a year for the businesses to open for cultivation. For Cannabis Connection, they started the process back in June of 2021.
Snodgrass added the cultivation area would only take up a portion of the property.
“We are not leasing the whole facility, we are going to have between 5,600 and 6,000 square feet so there are about three or four rooms that are partitioned or already included so it is only a subset of the facility,” he said.
Crapps also highlighted the quality of his cannabis, which recently won an award at the New England Canna Community Awards in Maine.
“We are a craft cultivation company, small craft brewery, craft cannabis, it is the same difference. That is where your quality comes from. We did just win second place at the NECANN in Maine for our flower, so we are getting well known in the community of New England and our product speaks for itself,” he said.
Crapps detailed some of the security features at the facility.
“I have never heard of requiring fencing, a safe room inside – absolutely – and a huge safe all with keycard access, employees only have that. Three to four months of data feedback backup systems, the whole nine yards linked to the police department alarm and all, that is the same thing I have in my facility here in Maine,” he said.
Any excess material will be turned into other cannabis products at a processing facility.
“Our excess plant materials will be moved off site and disposed of. The excess material we have will be shipped off to the processing plant to make edibles, concentrates, vape carts and all of that so we do not really dispose of much of anything,” Crapps said. “The only thing we would have leftover would be the big stalks which would be disposed of offsite.”
Crapps said he is also used to the odor requirements from his existing facilities.
“As far as the smell there is not a house anywhere near it, there are woods and we have two or three acres that surrounds the back of the building to give us more space. The odor control is something I am used to with the charcoal filters, they work amazing,” he said.
Anyone with questions about the cultivation facility can reach out to law@marvincable.com.