Discern’d Cannabis gets the all-clear to start break ground on marijuana shop
Bruce Spinney is closer to Grafton’s imaginary marijuana business line Monday night after the Planning Board approved his plans to build his retail establishment.
“We expect we’ll see it this summer,” Spinney said of Discern’d Cannabis Purveyors, planned for 130 and 134 Worcester Street, a 3.4 acre site beside the Mass Pike overpass. Construction on the site will begin later this month; the property has already been cleared of a building which has sat vacant and boarded up for the past 12 years.
Spinney is hoping to gain his provisional license from the state Cannabis Control Commission at their next meeting Thursday. As a Marine Corps veteran, Spinney is entitled to an expedited review, which floats his application to the top of the stack.
In Grafton, however, Spinney has long been considered third in line among the businesses granted Host Community Agreements. The town decreed only two retail licenses will be allowed and both Resinate, 135 Westboro Road, and MJ’s Market, 13 Centennial Drive, have been working through the process longer.
But under the “First to the Finish Line” adopted by the Select Board last month, Spinney may pass his rivals and block one from doing business in town — no matter how much they have worked and spent on their Grafton properties. The new regulation, which put in writing an unofficial policy that was frequently cited, has already drawn a threat to sue the town from Resinate.
Spinney’s application was unanimously approved, although Planning Board member Prabhu Balaji Venkataraman mentioned concerns about potential litigation.
Spinney and his business partner, Allan Villatoro, plan to construct a two-story one tenant marijuana dispensary on the former building’s foundation, totaling approximately 2,383 interior square feet.
Fifty-three parking spaces — about three times what Spinney expects the business to need — will be located on the north side and rear of the building, with the extra spaces meant to mitigate traffic. The parking area will be obscured from the street by a picket fence and landscaping. Customers will enter through the rear of the building, and cameras will be both in and out of the facility.
“I think, aesthetically speaking, we’ve done a very good job,” Spinney said.
