LYNN — A proposed Linden Street marijuana cultivation site has been given the green light by the City Council’s Recreational Cannabis Site Plan Review Committee.
The committee approved a proposal from Bostica, LLC, owned by Jarrod R. Falite and Raymond S. Falite, on Tuesday night.
Despite the unanimous approval from the site plan review committee, the panel raised concerns about potential odor that would be emitted from the grow facility.
The next step would be for Bostica, LLC to seek approval for their special permit from the City Council.
The Falites are seeking to open a marijuana cultivation and manufacturing business at 71 Linden St., known to some residents as the former Harvard Folding Box Company building.
The Falite family owns the 118,000 square-foot warehouse building, which contains approximately 20 businesses and is the training ground for the Boston Roller Derby League.
The proposed cultivation site would occupy about 40,000 square feet of the building and there would be no retail component. The business is expected to generate about 30 jobs, according to James Smith, a founding partner at the Boston-based Smith, Costello & Crawford and the company’s attorney.
James Cowdell, Economic Development & Industrial Corporation of Lynn executive director, said Bostica “definitely has the resources” to operate.
Ward 7 Councilor Jay Walsh, who represents the area where the grow facility would be, and Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard, chairman of the site plan review committee, expressed concerns over how smell would be remediated at the site.
Starbard said he toured a grow facility in Fitchburg a few months ago with Ward 5 Councilor Dianna Chakoutis and James Lamanna, the city’s attorney, and as soon as they got out of the car, they could immediately smell the pot from outside of the facility.
But the building owners and their attorney told the committee the facility would be odorless as they are using equipment to remediate the smell.
Smith has said the company’s largest investment would be for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system to ensure the air is pure. The company also plans to enlist the services of an odor expert.
“We don’t want that issue,” Smith said. “We want it resolved.”
The City Council also approved a uniform host agreement that the city would enter into with each future recreational pot shop approved by the panel.
Upon the execution of the agreement, a company would make a one-time up payment of $50,000 to the city and make quarterly payments of 3 percent of their gross sales. The payment would be in addition to the 3 percent of sales the company would be required to pay under the city’s local option tax, according to the document.
