The Select Board met this week with representatives of Coil Brothers Concentrates and Trichome Health, two cannabis businesses seeking to locate in Harvard. At the Sept. 18 meeting, each of the four board members questioned each company’s representatives about their business models and impact on the town but no official decision was made.
Coil Brothers Concentrates is a marijuana manufacturing company looking to locate at the Appleworks Building at 325 Ayer Road. It will process approximately 6 to 12 pounds of raw cannabis per day, and sell the resulting oils wholesale to other marijuana businesses (retail, medical, and research). Coil’s representatives have repeatedly stated that they expect the business to be nearly invisible once it is running, as no retail customers will be visiting the building and deliveries will be handled by a single unmarked van arriving approximately once per day.
Trichome Health wants to open a marijuana dispensary at 184 Ayer Road, the Coldwell Banker building near the Route 2 overpass. Trichome’s business plan anticipates 200 to 250 daily customers, who will include retail purchasers of both recreational and medical marijuana. Their representatives have stated that one of the main draws of allowing a dispensary to open is that the town is likely to collect approximately four times the revenue from an equivalently sized retailer compared to other business models. According to Trichome, this is because the town may collect a greater percentage of a retailer’s revenues (approximately 6 percent, instead of 3 percent) and retailers sell their product at a higher price than wholesalers (roughly a 100 percent markup).
While Coil Brothers brought several representatives, CEO and Harvard resident Matthew Zipoli and COO Matthew Brace did most of the speaking. When Select Board member Kara Minar asked whether manufacturers such as Coil are legally allowed to sell to both recreational and medical dispensaries, as Coil Brothers hopes to, Brace admitted that the current regulations prohibit this. However, he said that in other states this barrier did not last long, and that he expects the Massachusetts regulations to change soon as well.
In response to Minar’s other questions, he also stated that Coil Brothers expects to purchase most of its raw cannabis from growers within Worcester County, but that it might look farther afield to secure the indoor-grown, small-batch cannabis it hopes to use. When asked about the specific products that Coil Brothers would be producing, Brace replied that the company planned to start with oils, and then branch out into creams and patches.
Trichome makes its case
Trichome Health sent two people to the meeting, though CEO Alexander Mazin (who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for around a decade, and got involved with cannabis in 2016) was the primary voice. Mazin noted that Trichome has a vertically integrated business model, meaning that the company plans to grow, process, transport, and sell its own marijuana. Trichome will do this using facilities located in multiple towns, having sites locked down in Westminster and Auburn, and construction already underway in Lakefield. He contends that, based on developments on the West Coast, vertical integration is the most sustainable business model, as companies operating at only one of the stages are especially vulnerable to price fluctuations.
Traffic impact an issue
The thrust of the Select Board’s questions centered on Trichome’s traffic impact. Trichome has commissioned a traffic study, which is being reviewed by a committee which includes Select Board member Stu Sklar. However, the introduction of 250 additional cars along Ayer Road troubled all members of the board. Mazin noted that many of those people would probably end up driving the road regardless of whether Trichome opens, given that Ayer is opening a dispensary near the town border. Minar countered by stating that 184 Ayer Road has worse traffic issues than the rest of the road due to its proximity to the highway, and expressed her concern that, at busy times, cars seeking to enter might cause a backup onto the exit ramp. Mazin hoped that requiring cars exiting Trichome to turn right or getting an easement from an adjacent property might help the traffic issues, but he agreed that, if that location causes too many problems, Trichome might locate elsewhere along Ayer Road.
Minar also questioned some of the numbers in Trichome’s business plan, contending that 200 to 250 daily customers seemed like too low an estimate, especially given how many nearby towns have banned retail sales. Mazin responded by noting that, while approximately 50 percent of Massachusetts towns have banned retail sales, the bans are concentrated in smaller towns, meaning that far less than 50 percent of people live in towns where sales are banned.
Trichome will be holding a community outreach meeting (similar to the one that Coil Brothers already held) Sept 26 in the Town Hall meeting room. After this, the Select Board will continue negotiating with the two companies before deciding whether to sign a host community agreement with either. In addition to the Select Board, the Planning Board must also approve any prospective marijuana business, issuing a special permit after a site plan review. At their Sept 17 meeting, Planning Board members resolved to work with the Select Board to have their own recommendations ready to help with the final approval process.
