What does a Mashpee focused retail cannabis proposal look like? As a Mashpee resident and Massachusetts cannabis business owner, I had to ask myself the same thing when I set about preparing an application for the only recreational (aka ‘adult-use’) cannabis retail permit allowed in Mashpee.
As Mashpee is the only Upper Cape town with zoning for adult-use retail cannabis, the revenue potential is a great opportunity for the town, IF they select the right partner who is properly vested in the Mashpee community.
What does the right partner look like? To maximize the local benefits, I’d propose we demand the following standards:
Mashpee Ownership (South Shore is not local enough, no Colorado companies please)
Consumer Choice (prevent monopolies that take advantage of lack of consumer choice)
Small Business Grants for Locals (retail profits must fuel local job creation)
Research Funding (let’s learn how this plant can benefit our Cape health and economy)
Senior Citizen Medication Programs (lower costs for our fixed-income populations in need of medicine not covered by insurance)
Youth Education & Prevention (retail profits reinvested into our most precious resource)
Do I think my company Holistic Health Group (HHG) is the right partner for Mashpee? Yes, I do, as HHG is very focused on meeting (and exceeding) the above standards.
However, I encourage you to read my application below and compare it to the other submissions (there are 5) and make your own determination.
READ: Mashpee Board of Selectman HCA Submission Packet
(spoiler alert: it’s a lot of reading)
If you’d like to get involved, you can find my contact information at the bottom of this post. You can also join my Facebook Group: Mashpee for More Local Choice.
I hope you like what you see!
Sincerely,
Tim McNamara, Mashpee Resident, MA Registered Medicinal Dispensary (RMD) Owner
Holistic Health Dispensary & Research Center Proposal
Summary:
Holistic Health Group, Inc. (HHG, “the company” or “the applicant”) is applying to the Town of Mashpee for a Host Community Agreement associated with its proposed adult use retail dispensary and research licenses at 428 Nathan Ellis Highway (Rte 151). The property encompasses some 1.39 acres including a 1564 sq. ft. building at the front of the parcel, and 2480 square feet of presently unimproved space in the rear. The applicant has executed a Letter of Intent with the landowner contingent upon licensing, and will improve among other aspects: an increase of dispensary footprint to 2800 square feet, full utilities to the rear building, and an improvement to the location’s vehicular access points for easy ingress and egress (see below).
Host Agreement Terms:
Holistic Health Group intends to exceed, or at a minimum match, the terms of any host agreement proposed by other applicants. At the present time HHG’s proposal includes the standard host agreement terms which include the 3% local tax and 3% local impact fee.
The chart to the right demonstrates the group’s projections for the monetary value of these taxes and fees for the Town of Mashpee.
In addition, apart and independent of the aforementioned monetary benefits, HHG offers to direct proceeds in the following amounts on an annual basis for the following purposes:
1) $10,000 to conservation funds for John’s Pond conservation land
2) $15,000 to drug education and abuse prevention programs
3) $35,000 in local philanthropic entrepreneurship grants as more fully detailed in HHG’s proposed host community agreement.
Existing Traffic and Parking Conditions:
The applicant has preliminarily determined that parking for over 100 vehicles is available in the open paved spaces on the property. Traffic statistics published by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Cape Cod Commission for this location lists daily averages around 20,000, and spikes of up to 26,000 during the summer months. This stretch of the Highway is also presently in the midst of a 25% funded MassDOT corridor improvement contract adding a third dedicated turn lane between the east and westbound lanes, from the Mashpee rotary to the Falmouth line.
Traffic capacity in this area is being expanded by MassDOT project which will add a center turning lane.
Projected and Proposed Traffic, Visitor Estimation and Parking:
Recent statistics from the Department of Public Health indicate that approximately 21% of the general population in Massachusetts consumes Cannabis at least once within a 30 day period. Using Mashpee as a sample, roughly 3,000 of the Town’s residents might therefore visit the dispensary during the month. Residents from other towns will also frequent the dispensary, but attenuated distances are harder to predict.
In order to mitigate the inevitable novelty of its opening, the applicant will volunteer to impose an “Appointment Only” policy during initial rollout, with hours limited from 10AM to 8PM, starting with limitations of 30 customers per hour (or at thresholds suggested by the Chief of Police). The applicant will also create a neighborhood business promotion for customers, who will receive 10% off their purchase by showing the receipt of a neighboring business to maximize any area economic activity associated with such traffic. HHG believes that even if all 300 visitors in a 10 hour day were unique, in separate vehicles, and not already among the 20,000 existing daily travelers on Rte 151, this level of traffic will not significantly impact the current pattern. Recent news articles covering other Massachusetts dispensaries that have employed this policy, e.g. that of “ATG” opening in Salem, seem to support this belief. Even with this limitation, the visitation rate should be sufficient to serve residents of the Town of Mashpee and many from other towns.
HHG is also planning to apply with MassDOT for an additional curb cut to separate vehicular ingress and egress, with customers entering the property to the rear parking lot via the western entrance, and exiting the premises from the eastern entrance. The MassDOT project in this corridor too is expected to dramatically enhance passage in this section of Rte 151 over the next two years. HHG is actively engaged with MassDOT, Cape Cod Commission, and the Mashpee DPW to ensure the project adequately addresses neighborhood concerns, especially where its COO lives in the same general neighborhood (see below).
Existing Security Conditions:
The property is a standalone parcel with broad lot and landscaping buffers with good visibility, partially encompassed by secure chain link and barbed wire fence, and various concrete barriers also placed around the perimeter. It is accessible by vehicle only via a single entry and exit point with a steel gate. Abutters include a gas station and pizza shop to the east, a blinds store and breakfast restaurant to the west, and wooded land holding a small kettle hole to the south. No alarm systems or cameras presently exist on the property.
Proposed Security Measures:
The applicant agrees to work closely with the Chief of Police in coordinating its local security plan, including details mandated by the Cannabis Control Commission regulations at 935 CMR 500.110 that require among other things: the establishment of limited access areas, redundant and independent perimeter alarm systems, a system failure notification system, duress alarms and security trainings for staff, 24 hour high definition video surveillance of all facility areas, and various other details the applicant will provide to the Chief upon request. Product inventory at any given time will not likely exceed that necessary for 1-2 days, and the applicant’s long term storage will be located off-site, 35 minutes away at its Middleborough facility.
HHG is in contact with Police Chief Carline and has reached out to Fire Chief Rullo to share the group’s plans, and is proactive in developing communication protocols with public safety in all of its host Massachusetts cities and towns. HHG has engaged a qualified security contractor to manage, install and coordinate the company’s security and alarm maintenance system(s) in all locations. Plymouth Armor Group, a secure transport company with Cape Cod ties will provide supplemental transportation needs for cash and product. The applicant welcomes any opportunity for any other town officials to meet with the Security Director and contractor to discuss further details as may be needed.
Estimated Opening Date:
Holistic Health Group believes it is positioned to open as early as 3 months from the date that Mashpee can grant those approvals necessary to satisfy the Cannabis Control Commission’s issuance of a Provisional License.
In support of this timeline, the company has acquired priority applicant status with the Cannabis Control Commission based in part on its establishment of a Provisional Certificate of Registration with the Department of Public Health to operate a Registered Marijuana Dispensary (RMD) in Middleborough. The company expects its 31,000 sq. ft. hybrid greenhouse facility there to begin supplying the proposed Mashpee dispensary once that facility is completed in late 2019, and has supply contract commitments from other RMDs for interim product needs. Most of the improvements to the applicant’s proposed location would be aesthetic, the site having been operational and the home of a gift shop until the end of December and 2018.
Factors that may affect this timeline include the availability of Cape-based contractors for rehabilitation (preferred by the applicant), the availability of local staff for the applicant’s business, and the timeline of approvals from the Town’s Board of Selectmen, Zoning Board of Appeals, and now Board of Health contingent upon recently released draft regulations.
Research License Primer:
Western medicine, particularly pharmaceutical medicine has been problematic in modern U.S. society - with addiction, side effects and monetary cost. Jurisdictions that choose to regulate Cannabis therefore do so typically with an understanding that the plant can provide a safer, less addictive, and more organic answer to many human illnesses and afflictions.
Along these lines, HHG’s principals believe that the State of Massachusetts chose to regulate Cannabis sales for a reason, that the reason was initially medicinal, and that Massachusetts is renowned as a center for innovative medicine throughout the world. In anticipation of supporting federal legislation, HHG believes Mashpee, and Cape Cod more generally should participate in this relatively low impact, high value and increasingly beneficial industry.
The company’s operational model under this research license is to some extent considered a trade secret, but concerns those regulations at 935 CMR 500.050(6) and 105 CMR 725.021- 725.025 with respect to research and caregiver institutions respectively. The model generally focuses on geriatric medicine, and uses for Cannabis in elderly populations. HHG has sought to discuss and receive feedback on its research plans from the Mashpee Council on Aging and Board of Health, but these entities appropriately seek direction from the Town Manager before any such discussion takes place. The company remains available to speak to town officials on this subject.
About Holistic Health Group:
HHG is a medical priority-status applicant by vote of the Cannabis Control Commission on April 24, 2018. As a medical RMD the company is therefore also vertically integrated, meaning it will cultivate and process much of its own inventory in the Mashpee dispensary. HHG is also one of the first and only Massachusetts RMDs to harness the sun’s power directly with a Nexus greenhouse, and with cultivation energy costs as low as 40% below so-called “indoor grow” competitors, HHG is positioned to sell a better product at a lower cost – and therefore presents a solid plan to survive the inevitable supply and demand swings expected in this new and growing regulated market. Put another way, HHG’s ability to honor the host agreement is more reliable than retail-only organizations, as well as those most prone to overbearing energy bills and pest infestations – e.g. those relying on indoor grows.
The company’s Chief Operations Officer and 25% shareholder, Tim McNamara, is a Barnstable High School graduate, owns a nearby law firm and has lived in Mashpee since 2012. He practices in business and estate planning, and helped found Holistic Health Group in the spring of 2016. Since that time Mr. McNamara has been invited as a resource to share his expertise on Cannabis law and regulations to various speaking events and panel discussions.
Mr. McNamara also brings a unique experience on issues facing Cape Cod’s elderly population, having worked many years ago as a nurse’s aide in nursing homes in both Vermont and on Cape Cod, and presently as an estate planning and elder law attorney – which expertise has guided the group’s focus on geriatric medicine research.
Lastly, HHG is an entirely Massachusetts-owned and invested corporation, with no plans to sell its licenses. Mr. McNamara therefore emphasizes that Mashpee can count on him as a reliable, consistent and accessible contact to all departments and officials, where he is a resident of the Town. Along these lines HHG has sought and gained general support for its host agreement proposal from locally focused organizations like Love.Live.Local, Entrepreneurship for All – Cape Cod, and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.
For inquiries related to HHG or this application, contact information is as follows:
Tim McNamara
McNamara & Yates, P.C.
128 Route 6A
Sandwich, MA 02563
508-888-8100 (O)
774-238-0370 (C)
866-638-8480 (F)
