SANFORD — The Planning Board on Wednesday is scheduled to act on a request by two area businessmen who plan to open a medical marijuana growing facility on Hancock Lane.
The matter was tabled last month, amid questions about security and other factors.
Planning Director James Gulnac said the site already has approval from the Site Plan Committee. The application by G-Force Farms LLC is unaffected by a proposal to place a moratorium on medical marijuana production facilities to be aired by City Council in a public hearing Aug. 18.
The proposal by G-Force Farms LLC seeks an indoor medicinal marijuana grow operation at 27 Hancock Lane, in a portion of a facility once used for lumber sales, in south Sanford, just off Main Street.
The Planning Board has a role in the application process because of how the area is zoned. It is in the urban zone, where medicinal and botanical manufacturing is permitted as a conditional use by
the board.
Chris Smith and Bryce Legere, who formed G-Force Farms, LLC, are licensed by the state as caregivers, and each of them may grow medicinal marijuana for up to five patients.
The growing operation would be closed to the public; the only people inside would be a maximum of four employees, Smith said in a letter to the Planning Board.
A site walk was conducted by the Planning Board on Monday.
Gulnac said the issue of odor emanating from the facility is being addressed. The owners plan to install charcoal scrubbers inside to clean any potential odor escaping the building.
“We know how important (it is) that any air leaving the building does not smell,” said Smith in a letter to the Planning Board included with the application.
Gulnac said other issues that have been raised include security of the facility itself and secure disposal of the unused material grown there. He said that the company would follow state disposal methods.
Different growing operations at the old mill at 72 Emery St. did not require Planning Board scrutiny because the facility was already under a contract zone, according to Assistant Codes Officer Jamie Cole in a prior interview. He estimated there are upwards of 10 caregivers in the mill, growing medicinal marijuana for five patients each.
The Planning Board will consider the G-Force Farms LLC proposal at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the third floor council chambers of City Hall.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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