For Immediate Release: 12/18/2018 10:32 am
The City of Worcester will enter into negotiations for a community host agreement with five marijuana retail establishments, two marijuana cultivation facilities, one product manufacturing business and one microbusiness.
The community host agreement includes language permitting a community impact fee and other local regulatory oversight. A signed host agreement is a requirement of the state Cannabis Control Commission application.
The five marijuana retail establishments are:
By state law, the City is required to allow for 15 marijuana retail establishments. In addition to the five newly proposed establishments, the existing four medical marijuana operators have also been granted approval to sell recreational marijuana, bringing the total to nine.
The cultivation, product manufacturing and microbusiness establishments are manufacturing businesses that are not open to the public. The four establishments in this category are:
The proposed manufacturing facilities are in addition to Temescal Wellness, an already operating cultivation business located at 141 SW Cutoff.
The five new proposed retail establishments, four new proposed manufacturing businesses, one existing co-located medical and recreational cultivation facility and four co-located medical and recreational retail facilities are estimated to create 225 jobs as well as substantial tax revenue for the City.
Each potential new operator must still receive approval from the Cannabis Control Commission, the Planning Board and the License Commission.
The City of Worcester issued a Request for Interest (RFI) as a process for reviewing adult use marijuana establishments seeking community host agreements. Each potential operator was required to submit to the City completed copies of the Application of Intent, Management and Operations Profile and any other documents required by the Cannabis Control Commission. The operator was also required to host a community outreach meeting. Only candidates that submitted to the RFI and held their community outreach meeting prior to the August 24 deadline were considered at this time.
An interdepartmental team from the City reviewed the applications and interviewed all applicants. Recommendations were then made to the City Manager who ultimately has the authority to enter into the community host agreement.
To date, 39 applicants applied through the City of Worcester Request for Interest (or had received prior approval due to their medical marijuana status) for a variety of cannabis-related licenses.
The City must still issue an additional six retail licenses. Existing applicants remain under consideration as do applicants that submitted to the RFI after the August 24 deadline.
