All the “meat and potatoes” have not changed on a site plan and special-permit application for a recreational marijuana establishment that would be located at 621 County Road, according to the applicant’s lawyer, Jonathan Silverstein.
The Rochester Planning Board on Tuesday night did not take any action, as project representative Phil Cordeiro of Allen & Major Associates is still working with peer-review engineer Ken Motta on some of the finer details. Specifically, the board awaits Motta’s written input on the traffic plans, which Cordeiro said will not have a significant impact.
Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson said the board will be ready at its July 11 meeting to vote on a special permit that would allow for marijuana use at 621 County Road. The site-plan review-approval process should occur at the board’s first meeting in August.
This process will pave the way for a 4,500-square-foot, mixed-use commercial building that will become the first pot establishment in the Tri-Town area and located by the Wareham border.
Cordeiro gave a presentation on some of the more recently proposed changes meant to minimize the impact on abutters to the north and south of the property. Among the changes is a proposed 6-foot stockade fence on a 3-foot berm, creating a 9-foot barrier.
Planning Board members questioned if the fence would block the view of the road for vehicles exiting the property.
“There is nothing worse than pulling out into traffic,” Planning Board member Ben Bailey said.
Cordeiro said he would continue to work with Motta on that issue, perhaps tweaking it so the fence only reaches a 4-foot height as it approaches the main road. Cordeiro said sidewalk deficiencies in that area will also be improved.
Megan’s Organic Market Rochester LLC is owned in part by two Massachusetts residents but is a California-based company.
Talks with the Planning Board started last year, but an agreement was reached with the Select Board last fall.
The site-plan review and special permit are the final steps toward construction of the marijuana shop, which will share a site with another small business.
In other business, the Planning Board agreed to work with Zoning Commissioner Paul Boucher on an in-law apartment bylaw.
Boucher said many communities have such a bylaw, and it often protects the abutters of these properties. He said some applicants in town have a proposed, 1,200-square-foot, in-law apartment, which appears to be much bigger than its intended purpose.
“That’s a house for God’s sake,” he said, offering 750 square feet as a reasonable size.
Boucher said some communities have rules stating that a relative must live in the in-law apartment, which he said is impossible to enforce.
The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board was not scheduled upon adjournment.
Rochester Planning Board
By Jeffrey D. Wagner