Marlborough council opens Local Roots dispensary hearing, refers $440K fire station purchase

MARLBOROUGH — September 14, 2020 — Marlborough opens hearing on a third marijuana dispensary and lines up a $440,000 fire-station land buy. No member of the public spoke for or against Local Roots NE Inc.'s special permit application for 910 Boston Post Road East; co-owner Mike Stady projected $6 million to $8 million in annual sales generating roughly $250,000 in community impact fees and another $250,000 in local sales tax. Director of Security Ron Lapastecuyer, a 32-year retiree from the Pittsfield Police Department, detailed a locked-vestibule, one-customer-at-a-time entry modeled on the company's Fitchburg store. The application heads to Urban Affairs. Separately, the council referred Mayor Arthur Vigeant's $440,000 transfer for the potential purchase of 481 Elm Street to Finance, drawing from a hotel-tax account Council President Michael H. Ossing said holds about $1.2 million. A Valley Street rezoning passed second reading 8-3 with Councilors Irish, Ossing and Tunnera opposed, and a Shell station LED sign at 431 Lincoln Street was approved 9-2 over light-pollution concerns from Councilors Irish and Samantha Perlman.