Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced today that she is has approved host agreements with two marijuana retailers — Cypress Tree (at the former Green Tea at the corner of Elliott Street and Route 9) and Ascend Mass (for 58 Cross Street, (also known as 1089 Washington Street, the former Beacon Hill Athletic Club) and has declined approval to two other groups.
Cypress Tree already has a special permit to operate a medical marijuana establishing.
Both companies will now need to go before the Newton City Council for a special permit. Here’s the full announcement — and explanation — from the mayor…
Retail Marijuana Update
The following is an update I sent to the City Council yesterday on the status of recreational marijuana retailers in the City of Newton:
Host Community Agreement Process
On December 3, 2018, the City of Newton (City) adopted amendments to its Zoning Ordinance to govern all marijuana establishments and registered marijuana dispensaries (RMDs). The Newton Zoning Ordinance requires a Special Permit from the City Council for all marijuana establishments. Marijuana uses are restricted to certain commercial and manufacturing zones and numerous standards and criteria are placed on the different types of marijuana uses, including a limitation of eight (8) marijuana retailers in total and a requirement for a half-mile buffer between all marijuana retailers and RMDs.
Under state law, marijuana establishments and RMDs are required to execute Host Community Agreements (HCA) with the municipalities in which they operate. The agreement must set forth the responsibilities of the marijuana establishment or RMD and the community. The HCA may include a community impact fee of up to 3% of gross sales to be paid to the host community. The Cannabis Control Commission and state Attorney General have stated that executing an HCA is the sole authority of the municipality’s contracting authority, which in the case of a city is the Mayor. The Mayor is not obligated to enter into an HCA with any particular applicant. The basis for this review and consideration is to protect the health, safety and welfare of Newton residents and the community as a whole, while determining which marijuana establishment and RMD operators best align with Newton’s community values.
I have designed a process for reviewing applicants for HCAs. It considers criteria such as security, public health, community relations, experience, equity, economic value, sustainability and context. I have created a Marijuana Host Community Agreement Advisory Group (Advisory Group) consisting of representatives from Planning and Development, Law, Police, Health and Human Services, Transportation and the Mayor’s office to meet with applicants and give me a recommendation on whether to grant a provisional Host Community Agreement. The HCA is provisional until the completion of the City Council’s special permit process.
Decision on Four Applicants for Host Community Agreements
The Advisory Group has been meeting with applicants and has given me their recommendations on the first four applicants for marijuana retailers.
The Advisory Group has recommended moving forward with provisional host community agreements for two applications for marijuana retailers at 24-26 Elliot Street and 58 Cross Street (1089 Washington Street). The Advisory Group did not recommend moving forward with two other applications for marijuana retailers at 1081 Washington Street and 747 Beacon Street.
I agree with the recommendations of the Advisory Group.
Per the Advisory Group’s recommendations, I will be signing a provisional HCA with Cypress Tree Management for 24-26 Elliot Street, just off Rt. 9 at the edge of Newton Highlands and Newton Upper Falls. Cypress Tree Management, the applicant for a marijuana retailer at 24-26 Elliot Street, was approved for a registered medical marijuana dispensary (RMD) by the City Council last year and is looking to co-locate an RMD and marijuana retailer. The management team has substantial experience in the marijuana industry and presented a thoughtful approach to security and operations. Cypress Tree also had appropriate public health, community relations, equity and sustainability philosophies and has identified numerous transportation and parking management proposals to address concerns regarding congestion and parking. The Advisory Group noted that the proposed site location presents some challenges as Elliot Street experiences congestion currently and the intersection with Rt. 9 backs up during peak periods; this is an issue the City Council may wish to further consider in more depth during the Special Permit process.
Per the Advisory Group’s recommendations, I will also be signing a provisional HCA with Ascend Mass, LLC, the applicant for 58 Cross Street (also known as 1089 Washington Street, the former Beacon Hill Athletic Club) just outside of West Newton Square. Ascend Mass has a management team with experience in law enforcement, regulatory compliance, retail and cultivation. The applicant presented thorough plans for operations, security, equity and transportation management. The site has ample parking and safe access and circulation. Ascend also has appropriate public health, community relations, and sustainability philosophies.
I have chosen not to proceed with a provisional HCA for CNA Stores, Inc. at 747 Beacon Street in Newton Centre. The Advisory Group identified concerns regarding the suitability of the proposed site and the lack of a well-rounded management team. CNA Stores proposed a marijuana retailer at 747 Beacon Street, the former location of Murray’s Liquors. The management team has experience in technology, security and government relations, but lacks experience in the marijuana and retail industries as well as community relations. The property does not have an adjacent parking lot. Rather, the applicant has identified an off-site parking lot that would be leased in order to provide parking for customers; however, the parking area presents safety and security concerns due to the lack of visibility into the parking lot, difficult maneuverability for vehicles, and lack of safe pedestrian passage from the parking to the building.
I have also chosen not to proceed with a provisional HCA for Ikanik Farms at 1081 Washington Street, just outside of West Newton Square and adjacent to the Ascend Mass location. As with the Newton Centre location, the Advisory Group identified concerns regarding the suitability of the proposed site and the lack of well-rounded management team. The Ikanik Farms management team has extensive experience in the medical marijuana industry in California, and other western states. The team, however, lacks dedicated staff to oversee security and community relations. The proposed site, a former mattress store, has only six parking stalls in the rear with difficult maneuverability within the site. There is not dedicated pedestrian access from the parking area to the front door. While there are often available street parking spaces along the opposite side of Washington Street, there is not a safe pedestrian crossing for approximately a half mile in either direction.
Next Steps
The two applicants who have been granted a provisional HCA will now undergo a rigorous review by the City Council. The final decision as to whether and under what conditions a marijuana establishment may operate will be made by the City Council as part of the Special Permit process. The Special Permit process includes public input and allows for the City Council to consider concerns raised by the public, as well as how the proposal meets the goals of the City and criteria established by the Newton Zoning Ordinance.
Additional Requests for Host Community Agreements
The HCA Advisory Group continues to meet with applicants for marijuana retailers in other areas of the city and expects to bring forward the next group of recommendations in approximately four to six weeks.
Garden Remedies
Garden Remedies is currently operating at medical marijuana dispensary at 697 Washington Street, just outside of the village in Newtonville. It is awaiting its final inspection from the Cannibas Control Commission. Once it passes that inspection, it is likely to open three or four days later. As soon as we know the date of the final inspection, I will let you know.
Why is the City signing an HCA agreement with Ascend when they are skirting the law with the 3-store maximum ownership provision in state law? Ascend Massachusetts has one RMD license in Boston, have applications in for RMD’s in Cambridge and Brookline and now Newton. They just announced raising $55M to add more stores. Additionally, their parent company, Ascend Wellness owns stores in other states. After the Boston Globe article that outlined all the companies that are the skirting the 3-store maximum law, the CCC has announced it is cracking down on this. So why are we approving this?
Just as predicted during the ballot exercise: Big Marijuana is investing big in Newton.
All this is thanks to Mayor Fuller’s unholy alliance with Councilors Albright and Krintzman to “stack” the ballot and deprive Newton citizens the right to vote effectively and clearly on whether to join so many other surrounding communities in banning recreational pot shops from their midst.
“Hello Washington Street” = Pot Shop Row.
It’s not just Big Marijuana pushing pot on Pot Shop Row, it’s Big Tobacco, which is gobbling up all the Big Marijuana companies.
Sarah: The liquor industry is making big buys into the pot industry as well…
Turning “Hello Washington Street” into Pot Shop Row was totally unnecessary. The CCC is working right now on promulgating home delivery regulations in the near future, obviating the need for any of these storefronts. Sadly, Newton will have the lasting Fuller/Albright/Krintzman Legacy of featuring pot shops on one of our main streets.
Let’s see whether Mayor Fuller and Councilors Albright and Krintzman can next manage to turn the (already controversial) Northland project into the Newton Grassland….
Congratulations to Mayor Fuller for moving forward to sign HCAs with what appear to be 2 well qualified applicants. The mayor is acting in line with how Newton residents have voted multiple times by huge margins. Hopefully, despite continuing loud-mouthed minority opposition from those who don’t seem to have gotten that message (see above), the Council will move quickly to grant the necessary permits and the mayor will continue to move expeditiously to reach agreement with a total of 8 retail cannabis stores as required by law so that we can all soon reap the tax benefits associated with these establishments.
I think it’s interesting that the Advisory Committee gets to vet who is and who isn’t eligible for a Host Agreement before an applicant even gets to the City Council to make it’s case. I also think it’s interesting how the lack of parking spaces appears to be an issue with some of the potential sites when the City is working on a revision of our zoning ordinances that seems to lean toward reducing parking requirements for many uses.
Sounds like Ascend holds one license. If Newton grants a license then they would have two licenses. The business is still compliant. If it were to go beyond 3 licenses and still seek more then the CCC should step in. At least that would be my layperson’s understanding.
Given how slow and opaque the process of getting applications has been, and how arbitrary some communities appear to be in their decision-making, I can’t say I blame Ascend for filing more than 3 applications.
@Dulles, the law includes in-state and out-of-state stores when calculating the 3-store maximum, so Ascend is already out of compliance. Perhaps the City should include provisions in all of their HCA agreements that if an applicant later has more than the 3 RMD licenses allowed by law, then their Newton license will be revoked. That would scare off the big investor applicants like Ascend and leave room for locally-owned and Economic Empowerment licensees. We were told that legalization would help those hurt by prohibition and profits would not go to big investors. A progressive city like Newton should be able to make that happen.
According to this article it sounds like the law only applies to the amount of stores in MA: https://www2.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/27/massachusetts-marijuana-regulators-investigating-whether-companies-violating-ownership-limits/jshf4znu16AaNxD3P1NdBK/story.html
Ascend currently has no licenses, according to the CCC website: https://mass-cannabis-control.com/licensing/
They have host community agreements with Boston and Newton, but no licenses as of yet.
Hi Laurie,
I would suspect the law does not explicitly state how to count RMD licenses, because a logical reading would assume a state law refers to state licenses, not national.
For instance, Massachusetts caps the number of liquor store licenses a company can own at 7 (currently). Far as I know, the state doesn’t count out-of-state liquor store licenses against the cap of licenses that can be owned in-state.
Whatever the case, I trust Newton’s legal department to resolve it.
This is an excellent decision on the Mayor’s part. Both are reputable businesses and are in compliance with state regulations and the local Advisory Group.
Time to move on.
Prohibitionists will continue complaining about legalization for years to come. They’ll never admit that they were not only on the losing side, they were on the wrong side. But the vote, the revote, and the compromise vote are all over. Now is the time to let freedom ring.
On a practical note, people are going to see lines at Garden Remedies as soon as they’re fully approved to sell adult-use cannabis. There have on occasion been long lines at NETA in Brookline since they started selling adult-use. By all reports customers have been extraordinarily patient and polite. There is tremendous demand for cannabis products. The sooner we license eight cannabis stores in Newton [and give consumers a few choices], the sooner the lines will disappear.
With the above in mind, I’m troubled that the Mayor and her Advisory Group rejected the Newton Centre and Four-Corners applicants. The proposed Newton Centre location was formerly a liquor store, and the Four Corners location abuts a liquor store. Regulators and elected officials were instructed by voters specifically to “regulate marijuana like alcohol.” The Mayor’s rejection of the two locations indicates that she still hasn’t fully acknowledged the voter’s message.
I guess I’m more surprised that
former law enforcement officials
(Andrea Cabral & Bill Delahunt)
are involved in the drug trade.
Even Marsha Coakley is in on the smokables, as a shill for Juul.
What the heck, a good inve$tment is
a good inve$tment.
@ Paul Green – It is interesting how former elected officials with healthy pensions have now entered the lucrative cannabis business. Good jobs with good wages!
Yes Peter that is true.
I don’t begrudge either of them
but it seems odd that they
would spend their careers in law enforcement and then get involved in peddling drugs, legal or not.
As for Marsha Coakley, promoting
cancer causing vaping is head scratching. As I’ve said before, despite their moralizing and virtue sharing, Democrats love their ca$h.
Even more than Republicans do.
@ Paul Green – A very sad but true commentary.
Yay! This is great news. I can walk to the old Beacon Hill Athletic Club. Ooh and then I can swing by Trader Joe’s for Joe’s O’s on my way back home.
The owner of Garden Remedies, Karen Munkasey and Mayor Fuller both live near, or in Chestnut Hill, and they shouldnt be left out of the action. Have city officials
identified a location close to both of them where the next head shop, I mean pot shop can be located? So far it looks like there aren’t any convenient locations nearby them. How about near the star market or longwood cricket club? The old Peet’s coffee is gone, how about there?
Paul Green – Good comment!! While there seems to be a consensus (even in the City Council) that the old Peet’s in Newton Centre (or any village center) would be a bad location for a pot shop for a variety of reasons, you are spot on that Mayor Fuller and Karen Munkacy should have the pleasure of sharing the burdens of living near one of the pot shops they so much want to have salted all around Newton.
Ditto for Councilors Albright and Krintzman.
Funny how these ardent supporters of this pot shops in Newton (and Mike Striar too) live in homes that have been zoned safely away from the proximity problems brought by the pot shops they think are do wonderful for Newton.
Of course, Cabral and Victor Chang don’t even live in Newton at all, so they are fully insulated from the quality of life blights of living near pot shops (including impacts on the values of their homes).
I drove past NETA in Brookline yesterday and it was a traffic nightmare even during the middle of a weekday and with private duty police and security dealing with the line of people and cars seeking (unavailable) parking. That site does have a nearby T stop to help moderate the parking and traffic issues. In contrast, everybody (except the Mayor and the pro-pot segment of the City Council) know that the reality is that there is no effective public transit access at any of the Newton pot shop sites.
I drive by NETA pretty frequently and I’ve never seen anything resembling what Abe says he’s seen. And given how hyper-focused the region’s media has been about recreational marijuana coming to the state, I’m pretty sure if there were any problems we’d be seeing TV trucks parked outside the place.
Fortunately, Newton voters saw past the apocalyptic vision Abe and others tried to paint during last year’s ballot referendum and resoundingly said that these professionally run, carefully regulated, businesses have a place in our city.
I know some folks are disappointed that the much-ballyhooed “potocalypse” of the opening of NETA in Brookline instead was a(nother) non-event. I rode my bike there opening weekend to see the carnage for myself. I saw people from every walk of life in line. They got free muffins. There was traffic on Rt. 9 but no more than usual.
Since then, whenever I have to go into Boston on the D Line (often crowded, but again not because of NETA) I make it a point to glance at the NETA line… you can see it from the trolley. On a Tuesday afternoon, I saw about 6 people total queued outside. Yawn.
We’ve been to Brookline a couple times since NETA opened… haven’t smelled pot smoke there or seen groups of stoners loitering, engaging in criminal activity, indigents drawn there, public cannabis intoxication or drug-induced psychosis. Perhaps all the dire warnings were immensely trumped up and tremendously over-blown? The drivers are as bad as ever, but that’s not due to drugs.
Maybe I missed something. So I also looked up Brookline’s online police reports for April, since NETA opened. I did find one story of a home invasion where the home owner had an illegal grow. That’s not on NETA. I was looking for that spike in OUIs, criminal or delinquent activity with any relationship to marijuana in the last month since NETA opened. Nope.
To draw from the political discourse of our time, so far pot shops are turning out to be a great big nothingburger.
The former Peet’s is on its way to become a Case Bank branch, adding to the already high amount of banks in Newton Centre. Now that Murray’s is off the table as a pot shop, I would love to see a small grocery or a high quality liquor store open there? Right now I do much of my grocery and wine shopping in other towns, mostly Brookline, because it is convenient for me to pick something up on my way home on the T or biking.
I went to Brookline Village last week to pick up a light fixture at Rare Restoration and the owners were complaining about smelling pot. I smelled it myself as I was walking into their store. I’ve also smelled pot walking down Sumner St. in Newton Centre, where there are no legal pot shops. I think as more stores open and the pent up demand is satisfied the issues with parking and lines will dissipate.
There’s a timely article from the Spotlight team of the Boston Globe today on the owner of Ascend, Frank Petrullo, who is using his political influence to open the Washington St. location in Newton along with many others in Massachusetts and beyond. People who think they are not trying to skirt the three-store limit (using political influence) have their heads in the sand.
https://www2.bostonglobe.com/news/marijuana/2019/05/01/for-sale-pot-industry-political-influence/k9XBoEQD8ElWixzdVNeSWN/story.html
@Laurie: Thanks for sharing that link. Articles like this are a reminder about the importance of investigative journalism.
@all: All of the comments on ownership, location, parking, etc., aside, it’s unfortunate that the Mayor is proceeding with approving these new licensees prior to the City Council acting on the approval of a Social Justice Equity ownership provision in the application process. The application for West Newton is one that we targeted for minority ownership. The minority community has bared the legal brunt of the marijuana drug trade, and as I sit on the board of a neighborhood health center in Dorchester, I can envision a scenario wherein inner-city health centers should have an ownership stake. This would offset the daily costs they incur in addiction and injury cases related to this market.
The residents of the city are represented by the City Council, and the Council has 2 members on the Advisory Group, we will have to work closer with these Councilors on the needs of the residents.
The proposed CEO of this facility does not have an ownership stake, has never CEO’d before, and there is no requirement that she stay on that role once the project is approved.
Absent Ascend resolving the multiple shop ownership piece, approval by the City Council will be a tough hurdle.
@Greg: Newton voters only saw what the $328,000 of lobbying buys for a vote. Those in opposition of the retail sale were outspent 20 to 1, and now we have BIG Marijuana in the business!
@Abe Zoe-
I’m of the mind that they are coming anyways and one is already here, so it’s a done deal. I’ve been in Munkasey’s building on Washington Street many times, as my optometrist shared the building there. Other than the welcoming aroma, I never saw a hint of any problems. These shops are very tightly run, extremely secure, and very professional ships. I’ve worked on news stories at the Northampton and Leicester mass shops and it is the same there. There were initially some traffic problems in Leicester because of the location, but they were dealt with immediately. I have found at all these locations that
the shop owners are making a great effort to be good neighbors. I dont have a horse in this race, and i rarely enjoy an “herbal jazz cigarette”, but the shop that will be at Green Tea is very close to me. My understanding is that some of the same Leicester Mass operational folks will be involved in the Green Tree location
so I am hopeful.
There are absolutely locations for pot shops near to our Mayor, Ms Muncasy, Albright and Krintzman, we just need to find them.
The four corners location being talked about or even better, somewhere in waban village would be very convenient for councilor krintzman.
Maybe somewhere between city hall, newtonville and newton center would be the best location for councilor Albright? We should ask them all to find out what would be most convenient for them.
@ Paul Green- If we add a pot shop in Waban Square can we add parking meters to generate some additional City revenue?
If Newton awards 2 licenses (3 total with Garden Remedies) there are still 5 in play.
If there are concerns over applicants Ikanik Farms and CNA being turned down, they can learn from the city’s feedback to review, revise and re-submit improved license applications. It sounds like there were issues with the proposed parcels, plus experience gaps. They can close gaps that led to their applications not going forward this round.
I’m not sure what to make of the comment about inner city health centers taking stakes in retail dispensaries. Getting a cannabis license looks like a massive time and cost sink, a slog over a lengthy series of political hurdles, has strict operational compliance measures, and faces a hostile stance from the federal government. I don’t see how inner city health centers would be interested in that kind of punishment.
Alright Peter….
A pot shop is one thing,
but parking meters in Waban Square?
Now you’re really pushing it.
Besides, I don’t think that meters in Waban Square would pass the muster of the historical committee in terms of being aesthetically pleasing or historically appropriate.
But you never know…
@James Cote
Voters legalized marijuana in 2016 without spending any money in Newton. It was only after the City Council declared a revote in 2018 that any money was spent. The people who contributed most of that money did exactly what the City Council should have done, they defended the democratic outcome of a ballot box vote. In my opinion, you should be ashamed of your role in trying to undermine it. Now you want to delay the process further using “social justice equity ownership” as cover. It’s a transparent ploy from an opaque City Council.
@Paul Green,
I believe you are referring to Martha Coakley, former Mass. A.G., former Middlesex D.A. Not sure who Marsha Coakley is.
I find it quite reasonable for former law enforcement (William Delahunt, former Norfolk D.A., Andrea Cabral, former Suffolk Sheriff and long time prosecutor in Middlesex) to work in the industry. The experience they bring includes great insight into best practices concerning safety and security. As cash businesses, I would expect that the safety and security of customers and employees will be a top priority.
@All: West Newton has far more going on than any other part of the City. In a small stretch of Washington St we are looking at 700+ apartments, 100,000’s of sq ft of commercial space, conversion of the National Guard Armory to single resident housing, a complete rebuild of West Newton Sq, zoning of Washington St and the city as a whole, and yes a retail marijuana facility. This is unprecedented stress on one small section of the city and the Administration is sending it all our way at the same time.
So, unfortunately, some things need sorting out and just because we are being jammed doesn’t mean West Newton can be intimidated to accept everything.
We will open a retail marijuana store in West Newton, but it will be done with the residents in mind.
So a modest proposal for the former Peet’s: a combined bank/pot shop. How else is Chase going to lure customers away from all the other banks operating here in Little Zurich, aka Newton Centre?
The decision to nix the former Murray’s as an option was a no-brainer, or at least it should have been. A business whose customers have to queue up outside doesn’t belong in any location where the line could interfere with traffic (including pedestrian traffic), impede access to adjacent businesses, or extend down the street or around the corner into a residential neighborhood. There’s no shortage of potential locations for the relatively small number of stores that will be licensed. It shouldn’t be hard to keep them out of places where they’re bound to be a nuisance to the people who’d be dealing with them daily.
To any pro-cannabis/pro-modernization ward 3 resident with civic interest who’s still reading this long thread:
Please consider pulling papers and gathering signatures to challenge Councilor Cote’s re-election. He was first elected unopposed, has never faced a strong opponent, and would be exceedingly vulnerable to a challenge from a mainstream candidate. For instance, when he writes “We will open a retail marijuana store in West Newton, but it will be done with the residents in mind” does anyone know what he means? City residents (including those in West Newton) have voted multiple times to legalize retail cannabis. What Mayor Fuller is enacting is exactly what the vast majority of voters embraced. It’s time we had a councilor in ward 3 who represents the interests of the majority of voters, not someone who continually obfuscates and stands in the way of progress.
If you don’t want cannabis stores or affordable housing or modern development in the West Newton Square area then by all means stand with Councilor Cote. But if you’re looking for something better, step forward and work hard to replace him!
740 Beacon Street (Roche Auto building) Newton Center. Another POT shop proposed. For those who may have missed it in the Covid and Election Fog the Mayor has Recommended a provisional host community agreement be put together for this ALREADY VERY CONGESTED Site.
For the record, I supported and voted for legalization, but the implied comments that there are TWO Newtons also ring true.
Whether it’s pot legalization, housing/density, rezoning or schools, there is the Newton of “Haves” that push for change (yet remain isolated from its negative impacts – patting themselves on the back from afar in Chestnut Hill and Waban) and the “Have Nots”- villages like Upper Falls who seems to always gets the pot stores, liquor stores, Northlandpocolypes, and newly developed $1m+ duplexes. And led by a Mayor who did not send her own kids thru NPS. It’s all very disingenuous.