SHEFFIELD — A massive show of political force has put the kibosh on a proposal to grow cannabis in the East Ashley Falls section of Sheffield.
Dozens of neighbors of the project on Polikoff Road dialed in Thursday night for a public hearing before the Planning Board via phone conference that lasted more than three hours and did not conclude until close to midnight, when the board voted 5–0 to reject the special permit application for Wise Acre Farm.
That meeting replaced another exhaustive public hearing that had been held Feb. 24, but had to be nullified because it had been noticed improperly. Click here to listen to or download an audio recording of the March 18 hearing. Fast forward to 1:18:30 for the beginning of the Wise Acre hearing. Click here to see the site plan for the proposal for 286 Polikoff Road, and here for the special permit application.
Wise Acre Farm owner Jon Piasecki of West Stockbridge said at the hearing that he estimated his Polikoff Road operation would have grossed $5 million to $9 million per year and generated approximately $150,000 in revenue to Sheffield in community impact fees worked out between his company and the town through a previously negotiated host community agreement.
Just as they did at the nullified hearing, neighbors of the proposed cannabis farm objected strenuously to the proposed 2.15-acre, 95,000-square-foot outdoor cultivation farm, part of a larger 20-plus-acre property currently owned by George and Rose Kronk, about half of which lies in the Rural District.
As proposed, the farm itself was away from Polikoff Road in the western half of the site, which is zoned commercial or “General Business” — a designation that allowed for cannabis cultivation by special permit from the town Planning Board, according to Section 7.5 of the town zoning bylaws.
“Please consider the feelings we are feeling in our neighborhood,” said Lisa Warren. “We are the ones who will be affected. We ask you, please, to deny the special permit.”
Other Polikoff Road neighbors, including Melody King, Sue Fink, and Tricia Vollmer, objected to the proposal because of concerns about odor, traffic, property values, and water supplies for the wells serving homes in the neighborhood. Polikoff Road resident Sam Stolzar, a Great Barrington police officer, added that he did not want to have to explain to his children the smell of the growing cannabis.
Abutter Tracy Stoddard had organized a Change.org petition against the Wise Acre proposal. Lawn signs subsequently popped on Polikoff Road protesting the proposal. Even though much of Polikoff Road is residential in character, the section in question is not zoned residential and is therefore vulnerable to commercial development.
While dozens spoke in opposition, some spoke in support. Ted Dobson, who grows cannabis outdoors in Sheffield for Theory Wellness in Great Barrington, wondered why neighbors were so concerned about odors when manure is spread on cornfields throughout the town.
“We have a number of crops in Sheffield that are grown outdoors including corn and … manure spreading, particularly during the spring, that are odoriferous,” Dobson said.
Dobson also suggested much of the opposition was cultural in nature: “If there was any other kind of farm with plants in it, would there be these kinds of objections? If it were a hops farm for beer or a grain farm for alcohol, would [you] be vehemently against it?”
Suehiko Ono, co-founder and CEO of Pittsfield’s EOS Farm, which grows cannabis outdoors, suggested that concerns about odor were misplaced and more rooted in emotion than anything else.
“The reason everyone voices smell is because there’s no other reason, so when you have an emotional response, which is understandable, because there is a lot of fear around and a lot of concern,” Ono said. “But when you have an emotional response and you don’t have any reasons [for opposition], you have to come up with a reason for which there is no scientific or other argument against it.”
Ono added that there is “very hard science” showing harm to respiratory systems from the effects of manure odors in the air, but, for obvious reasons, cow manure does not evoke the same emotional reaction in a rural area.
But support for the proposal was all for naught, as opponents, some of whom were allowed to speak more than once and repeated themselves, convinced the Planning Board the detriments of the proposal outweighed any benefits the town might derive from it. When the board made its decision at 11:15 p.m., applause crackled over the phone lines.
It is also worth noting that a 2016 ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana in Massachusetts passed by almost 7.5 percentage points statewide and by 24 points in Sheffield.
The board also approved a special permit for a cannabis lab and manufacturing facility at the site of the former Custom Extrusion facility at 34 Home Road. That operation will be run by Berkshire Welco, which also operates a retail cannabis store and grow facility on Route 7 known as The Pass.
Another grow facility is proposed farther south on Polikoff Road, near the Connecticut line, by ZGC LLC, whose board of directors includes Christopher Regan, who owns a salad greens farm in nearby Millerton, New York. A special permit public hearing for that proposal will be held on Wednesday, March 24, at 7 p.m.
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