Deerfield approves zoning for medical marijuana treatment centers

Voters have approved a zoning bylaw that would allow medical marijuana treatment centers in the Deerfield Industrial Park and a small section south of Elm Street. The Planning Board held two public hearings on the zoning bylaw, including one right before a special Town Meeting Monday, during which residents approved the change.

The bylaw creates a medical marijuana overlay district which includes the Planned Industrial District, which is made up by the industrial park off Route 116, and the southern portion of the Industrial District. The targeted industrial district is located south of Elm Street and borders the railroad to the east, Route 5 to the west and the Whately town line to the south.

The treatment centers are allowed only within the overlay district with a special permit issued by the Select Board.

No treatment centers are allowed to be within a 500-foot radius of a school, day care center or any facility in which children congregate, which complies with the state Department of Public Health regulations. Two of the five applicants vying for a Franklin County license to operate a registered medical marijuana dispensary have proposed locating them in Deerfield on their state applications for the initial phase of the process.

JM Farm’s Patient Group, directed by James Pasiecnik of Whately, Nicholas Spagnola of Revere and Joshua Soditis of Somerville, has proposed siting a dispensary and cultivation center in Whately. They also have eyed several spots in Deerfield, but have not made potential locations public yet.

A New Leaf Inc., directed by Josh Goldman, Marina Goldman and Susan Lowry, all of Montague, has proposed Deerfield as a site. Goldman is the founder of Australis Aquaculture, a fish farm in Montague.

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