SAUGUS — The long-awaited request for information for marijuana establishments was issued by Town Manager Scott Crabtree’s office on Monday after it was finalized last week, officially kicking off the process for marijuana dispensaries to file applications to open in town.
The issuing of the nine-page document represents the most significant step taken in the process to date after Town Meeting authorized an amendment to the town’s zoning bylaws to welcome dispensaries, which was later approved by former Attorney General Maura Healey’s office. Applicants have 30 days to complete the RFI and submit it to the town’s purchasing department.
Responses to the RFI will be reviewed by a “coordinated Marijuana Establishment Review Committee” comprised of Crabtree, Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli, Fire Chief Michael Newbury, Director of Public Health John Fralick, the town’s procurement director, a member of the Planning Board, and the town’s building commissioner.
Respondents are required to submit five hard copies of the RFI proposals to Purchasing Director Michele Wendell. Each submission is required to feature a cover letter summarizing their proposal and indicating why they should be selected, according to a copy of the RFI obtained by The Item. The RFI is split between ten sections and includes the review criteria the committee would employ.
The second section of the request details the eight necessary components of an “application of interest,” which is required to feature a copy of the company’s application to the Cannabis Control Commission. Applicants are also required to feature, among other things, past or current financial statements, a list of all persons having direct or indirect control of the dispensary, documentation of the proposed address for the dispensary, and evidence that the proposed location complies with “applicable buffer zones and zoning requirements.”
The RFI also asks respondents to submit a timeline for when the dispensary would be open and evidence that it will be ready to operate within that timeline. Respondents are also required to provide Crabtree and other members of the committee with “detailed operating policies and procedures,” regarding 12 areas, including security, diversion prevention, cannabis storage, delivery to and from the site as well as to customers, and dispensing procedures.
Respondents are asked to provide a plan for positive community impact, including hours of operation, municipal benefits the dispensary would provide, financial or otherwise, and a plan for environmental sustainability in the cultivation, manufacturing, and sourcing of retail products.
Once applicants complete those steps, their proposals will be reviewed by the committee, which will then invite an unknown number of respondents to a Community Outreach Meeting with the committee. A number of companies have already held Community Outreach Meetings in town, a step mandated by the Cannabis Control Commission, though those that have already done so will be required to do so again should they be selected to do so by the committee.
Those meetings will review the type of marijuana establishment to be located at the property, a security plan, steps to prevent diversion to minors, and a positive impact plan for the town.
Only after those meetings will applications be subject to a “detailed review” by the committee, which will then make recommendations to Crabtree 30 to 60 days from the submission deadline date. The 14-point review criteria outlined in the document includes a knowledge of license procedures, prior experience in the field, a “high-quality and comprehensive” security plan, a plan to prevent diversion to minors, and integration into the overall goals of the town.
Respondents deemed qualified by the committee may be invited to enter into negotiations with Crabtree regarding a Host Community Agreement, who the RFI notes “reserves the right to reject any and all applications deemed not to be in the town’s best interest.”
After completing the RFI and meeting with Crabtree, applicants will be required to go before the Board of Selectmen, which will ultimately determine the companies that are actually allowed to open in Saugus by way of issuing S-2 licenses to up to three dispensaries. The board’s chairman, Anthony Cogliano, has said he expects as many as 20 applicants to come before the board.
The timeline outlined by the RFI means the board will likely not review applications until late March at the earliest, though the review process could well drag into the summer considering the sheer volume of steps on the path to actually opening.
With so many applications to work through, Cogliano said the board was going to take direction from the Police Department, and would heavily scrutinize security plans.
The board would like to see “prior experience in the business” and for the location to be a “good fit for the neighborhood,” he said.
Thus far, according to Cogliano, seven properties along Route 1 have been secured for potential cannabis dispensaries. Those properties are 24 Broadway, 1393 Broadway, 1268 Broadway, 44 Broadway, 1529 Broadway 181 Broadway, and 1260 Broadway.
A Community Outreach Meeting will be held for the 1529 Broadway property at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Saugus TV on Main Street.
