By Carol Britton Meyer

The select board this week unanimously approved a Host Community Agreement with Alternative Compassion Services that will allow the business at 175 George Washington Boulevard to sell retail marijuana.

Alternative compassion services at 175 george washington boulevard, which is on its way to becoming hull’s first retail marijuana shop.

The planning board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, December 11, at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial School, 81 Central Ave., for a site plan review and to consider ACS’s request for the issuance of a marijuana overlay district special permit.

In early November, the board unanimously agreed to enter into an HCA with ACS to sell retail marijuana in addition to the medical marijuana that has been sold at the current location for the past two-and-a-half years.

Town meeting earlier authorized allowing up to two retail marijuana establishments in town.

What Town Manager Jennifer Constable called “a fairly standard Cannabis Control Commission template” includes general definitions, that ACS will operate as a marijuana retailer and medical marijuana treatment center in the marijuana overlay district, the laws under which the facility will operate, their security plan, and that ACS will hire locally – as well as minorities, Indigenous people, women, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people – whenever possible.

ACS will pay an annual community impact fee not to exceed 3% of gross sales related to any infrastructure improvements, public safety, inspectional services, or other expenses “as reasonably related to the actual costs imposed by the company.” These will be submitted to ACS by the town on an annual basis.

ACS hosted a community outreach meeting Monday night, according to ACS President Stephen Werther, who signed the document at the end of the HCA discussion.

“We very much appreciate your hard work,” he told the board.

The next step is submitting their application to the state CCC.

Regarding the remaining number of potential HCAs, Constable clarified a question that arose during an earlier meeting as to whether the combined medical and retail operations at the ACS site constituted the two maximum HCAs that can be awarded at the town’s discretion.

“The legal opinion is that this is one HCA, leaving an additional HCA that can be issued,” she said.

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