EASTHAMPTON — Hampden Care Facility plans to hold a job fair, hire 50-60 workers and open its medical marijuana dispensary at the Keystone Mill by the end of the year.
Plants are already being grown within the 37,000-square-foot 122 Pleasant St. facility, officials from the company said.
Representatives from Hampden Care appeared before the Easthampton Planning Board on Tuesday, where they won an amended special permit for extended hours. The original permit, issued March 2016, allowed operations only between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
When it opens, the dispensary will be allowed to operate between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. — a window that far exceeds the 10 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. hours at New England Treatment Access, a competing dispensary in Northampton.
Hampden Care retail manager Ian Kelly said the early and late hours would provide more flexibility for deliveries and convenience for customers. Kelly added that a job fair will soon be held, and that dozens of local workers will be needed to grow marijuana, process it and provide customer service.
Springfield lawyer Stephen Reilly, representing the firm, said that if all goes well the retail store will open by the end of the year.
Construction began in December, when a city building permit was issued for the facility. In June, Hampden Care gained a partial occupancy permit for a section of the ground-floor grow room. The firm gained an OK from the state on July 12 to begin cultivation.
“We’ve been crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s,” he told The Republican.
Kelly, who admitted that the company’s name “sounds like a nursing home,” said a rebranding will occur before the Easthampton retail operation opens.
“It’s a very exciting time,” he said.
In October 2015, Easthampton approved a zoning ordinance to regulate medical marijuana facilities. The Planning Board is now discussing potential rules for recreational marijuana.
Kelly said Hampden Care is interested in growing, processing and selling recreational marijuana, but can’t make any plans until regulations are issued by the state’s recently created Cannabis Control Commission.
The commission must promulgate marijuana regulations by March 15, 2018, and begin accepting license applications by April 1. State licenses for recreational marijuana businesses could be issued as soon as July 1.
The state commission will also take over the regulation of medical marijuana, approved by Massachusetts voters in 2012. Currently, the medical program is under the Department of Public Health.
Recreational marijuana was approved by Massachusetts voters in 2016. In July, the state Legislature passed its own version of the cannabis law.
Papers filed with the Massachusetts Department of Health name the principals of Hampden Care, which also plans a dispensary in Springfield. Its CEO is Mark Zatyrka of West Suffield, Connecticut, and its chief financial officer is Peter Komassa. Thomas Gallagher is president of the nonprofit’s board of directors. Peter Gallagher of New York is listed as an investor.
The Keystone Mill is owned by James R. Wittmer II under Keystone Enterprises LLC.
credit:masslive.com