A Mendon father and son are exploring setting up the state’s fifth medical marijuana dispensary in the building that houses the Norman Rockwell Museum on Route 4 in Rutland Town.
Representatives of Lily Pad Organics Inc., whose principals are Daniel Reilly Jr. and Daniel Reilly Sr., of Mendon, are applying for state approval to establish the dispensary on Route 4, Rutland Town Administrator Joe Zingale said.
The museum has been for sale for several years.
Gov. Phil Scott recently signed legislation that increased the number of state-approved marijuana dispensaries from four to five.
Lindsey Wells, the administrator for the medical marijuana program for the Department of Public Safety, said she received seven applications for the one new dispensary certificate allowed under Act 65.
Wells said each application was more than 200 pages long, and she said much of the information is confidential.
Zingale said he told attorney Jeffrey Polubinski of Gravel and Shea, a Burlington law firm, that because Rutland Town doesn’t have zoning regulations or subdivision requirements, no local permits were needed.
But Zingale said Polubinski wanted to come and talk to the Select Board, and that will take place sometime in August.
While Rutland Town does not have zoning regulations, Zingale said a dispensary could fall under the purview of Act 250.
If a commercial project is proposed for a lot bigger than an acre of land and a town has no zoning regulations, it has to come before the local Act 250 board, he said. For towns with zoning regulations, the size of the lot is 10 acres. According to the museum’s real estate listing, the lot is 1.8 acres, and the building was built in 1975.
According to the listing, the site has parking for 30 cars and has 600 feet of road frontage on Route 4. The listing said it had been on the market for 1,279 days and the asking price was $275,000, with another $ 250,000 for the Rockwell collection and print inventory.
Josh Terenzini, chairman of the Rutland Town Select Board, said he hadn’t formed an opinion about the potential marijuana dispensary, and said all the information the town had about the project came from a conversation Zingale had with the project’s attorney.
“We’ve heard so little about this proposal. I need to see more facts about it,” Terenzini said.
He said the board would discuss the issue at its Aug. 22 meeting.
“We have not had any information about the pros and cons about it,” he said. “More will be heard about it and said about it down the road.”
Rutland City banned a marijuana dispensary from within city limits in 2013.
The four current legal dispensaries are in Brandon, Burlington, Brattleboro and Montpelier.
Wells, the state public safety administrator for the program, said the new law allows existing dispensaries to set up satellites in other communities. Satellites have been proposed for Middlebury, South Burlington, Williston and Hartford.
Wells said a decision on the fifth dispensary would come in September. Applications closed July 28, and the panel which will make a recommendation to Tom Anderson, the public safety commissioner, will meet Sept. 11.
Polubinski didn’t return messages Wednesday and the Reillys could not be reached for comment.
Link – Rutland Herald
