WHATELY — The Selectboard extended ToroVerde’s host community agreement through Dec. 31, 2022, as the company continues to work toward opening a retail marijuana dispensary at the former Sugarloaf Shoppes.
The Arizona-based marijuana company was issued a special permit by the Zoning Board of Appeals in February 2019 and had aspirations to open later that year, but has yet to begin operations. Attorney Richard Evans, who has been representing the company, and ToroVerde President William Beetz appeared before the Selectboard Wednesday to ask for an extension to the host community agreement with plans to open later this year.
“ToroVerde hopes to open this spring or summer. … By this time, we’re confident the company will be up and operating,” Evans said. “Everything is going forward. They’ve made a big investment in the facility.”
Selectboard Chair Jonathan Edwards said it “makes all the sense in the world” to request an extension and said he was even open to extending the agreement to 2023 if necessary. He added, however, town officials believed the store would have been open by now.
“It strikes me that we all assumed that this would be up and running before now,” Edwards said. “I think December 2023 would be more in line with our regional timeline.”
Evans said his client would be more than happy to accept the 2023 extension.
“I don’t think we’ll have any objections to 2023,” he said. “Hopefully we won’t need it.”
Despite the conversation about additional time, the Selectboard opted to stick with extending the agreement to the end of 2022 instead.
“Let’s let it go until the end of the year,” Selectboard member Joyce Palmer-Fortune proposed. “It seems reasonable and it’s not like we’re not going to help extend it.”
ToroVerde was the first of two retail dispensaries to be issued special permits to operate in the former Sugarloaf Shoppes at 424 State Road. ToroVerde is licensed to operate in Unit A while Debilitating Medical Condition Treatment Centers (DMCTC) was approved by the ZBA in October to operate in Unit B.
During DMCTC’s permit process, ToroVerde opposed the licensing because of concerns about traffic and future leasing opportunities being affected by a neighboring dispensary. The ZBA, however, said potential future leases were irrelevant to DMCTC’s application in front of them and unanimously approved the permit.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.