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#MUNICIPAL #GUIDANCE: Mashpee

The Mashpee Zoning Board of Appeals on July 24 approved a special permit modification request to allow Triple M, which presently operates a medical dispensary, to open a “combined medical-adult use” facility at 41 Echo Road. Adult use refers to the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes.

The company plans to construct a 3,700-square-foot addition to the existing dispensary and an 1,800-square-foot mezzanine for security and administrative offices, according to the plan. Triple M officials are proposing 70 on-site parking spaces and a traffic queue lane to accommodate 25 vehicles.

They’ve also pitched a state-of-the-art security and surveillance system. There will be a minimum of two security guards, at least initially, as well as parking lot attendants, according to Triple M’s managing director Jim Vaccaro. Preliminary plans also include police details until it’s determined what sort of traffic comes through, he said.

“I think we have a very comprehensive plan in place,” Vaccaro said Sunday, noting that the company has had “zero problems” related to security or traffic since the medical dispensary opened in April of 2018.

It hasn’t been completely smooth sailing. The store was briefly shuttered in December after state health officials issued a cease-and-desist order while it looked into concerns of pesticide use at Triple M’s cultivation facility in Plymouth. The use of pesticides on marijuana products is prohibited under state regulations.

The company also operates a recreational facility in Plymouth under a provisional license that — as they’ve proposed in Mashpee — is located adjacent to their medical dispensary there.

The town is slated to receive up to 6% in revenue from sales and sales tax, which it opted for in the host community agreement, at the combined facility, Vaccaro said. Triple M will also be donating $25,000 a year to the town to give to an entity of its choosing.