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Date: 4/5/2022
HATFIELD – During questioning of the applicants for a permit to grow cannabis in fields along North Hatfield Road abutters and residents learned that when all the acres intended for cultivation are planted as much as 400,000 square feet of marijuana may be growing.
“140a is step one, phase one,” said Bernie Smiarowski, who spoke in support of the group, Straits Road LLC. Smiarowski indicated a wetland several hundred feet from the road. “It’ll be beyond that hedgerow there.”
Smiarowski referred to plots of different sizes on the property at 140 N. Hatfield Rd. The group’s plans are to farm cannabis outdoors, eventually build greenhouses, and also lease fields to cannabis growers who can manage the expenses of a license to cultivate, but not the overhead of a full operation. At some point, Smiarowski said, the usable acres nearest the thoroughfare will host a solar energy installation.
The filings for the project indicate a continuous chain link fence will surround the growing areas, with triple ply security curtains, infrared cameras and a locking gate. Abutters to the property were most concerned that alterations may impact drainage and the odor of cannabis will be strong.
“Could someone speak to the air filtration that you mentioned, regarding odor?” asked Susan Elliott, who lives south and east of the property. “I’m really interested in the odor because the wind blows through the area and right toward my house … Would you raise your children and family around that?”
Michael Szawlowski, a local potato farmer, replied that he would. Szawlowski said he was involved in the venture.
“You think you’re going to mitigate that odor with blankets?” asked Michael Omasta, a neighboring landowner. “It’s not gonna happen.”
One resident, Karen Karowski, experienced the smell of a related crop, hemp, and its health impacts.
“I live down the road from the Depot Road farm and that was hemp,” Karowski said. “I live on Cronyn Hill, so this will be right above us … If you have allergies as bad as mine, it has a great effect.”
Smiarowski was understanding, but unapologetic. He acknowledged that greenhouses would make odor control much more efficient. However, structures create a much more significant economic hurdle for would-be farmers to surmount.
“To require that it be in a greenhouse,” Smiarowski said, “it would be prohibitively expensive for smaller farmers, smaller investors, to get into the industry. It’s a huge huge huge difference. I fully understand where you’re coming from. Active venting from the greenhouse makes it possible to put in those odor mitigating systems, the charcoal filters and what have you.”
Derek Busynski, the landowner across the street at 138 N. Hatfield Rd., worries that drainage on his property will not be sufficient. New home construction across the street has altered water travel. Further structures may create much worse problems.
“You mentioned the tiling” of drainage ditches, Busynski said. “How are you going to tile those ditches and have it keep draining out? This whole area drains through my property. The culvert is failing under the road. The town hasn’t repaired it (and) I am concerned that … I’ll end up with a swamp.”
The proposed cannabis farm will be bordered by North Hatfield Road to the south and Straits Road to the north. An abutter on the Straits Road end, Michael Bartlett, was concerned about drainage and the impact of a large cannabis grow operation.
“I own 28 acres, abutting to the property,” Bartlett said. “I am just concerned. Four hundred thousand square feet of cannabis? They can’t even tell me how many plants that is. Because they don’t want to?”
Residents asked questions about business relationships, profit margins and other information not required by the applicants to be discussed. Karowski said, “We’re not here to stop you from doing this.”
Smiarowski’s comments suggested that because the marijuana flower will be grown outdoors it may be more difficult to prevent passage of a grower’s application. Indoor marijuana grows, according to Smiarowski, burn through 10 percent of the power consumed in the commonwealth. The addition of licenses for outdoor growing, a recent expansion of options by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, will ensure production continues even if power outages hamper indoor cultivation. Outdoor grow operations therefore bypass some regulatory difficulties.
Outdoor growing operations also take advantage, according to Smiarowski, of fertile valley soils.
“It’s like growing tobacco,” Smiarowski said. “This area is now great for growing cannabis. It’s got some of the best soil in the country. It’s an agricultural community … It’s a new crop that provides real benefits for the town. In my mind, that’s a huge win, to engage labor here and revitalize this area with this new crop…It would be a real shame for Hatfield not to be able to participate in this new industry.”