DEERFIELD — Planners want the company seeking to build a “cannabis campus” in town to provide more details about its traffic assessment, odor mitigation strategies and why it needs a waiver from the town’s tree inventory bylaw.

Site plan review is underway for SunnyDayz Inc., which is proposing a marijuana dispensary, cultivation facility and research lab at Routes 5 and 10 not far from the Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital. The Planning Board last week made a request for “more specificity” from the company to streamline future hearings.

The company underwent a peer review from Berkshire Design Group and filed its responses with the Planning Board on Feb. 28. While a majority of Berkshire’s recommendations were answered, the Planning Board asked SunnyDayz to provide more specific information about certain parts of its plans, including traffic and odor.

“I would love more specificity in general, in regards to a lot of the comments that were made,” Planning Board member Emily Gaylord said. “I think that’s going to take us a long way.”

SunnyDayz’s proposed plan is to put a road through the wooded property on Routes 5 and 10 and construct a 5,000-square-foot testing lab, 26,705-square-foot indoor cultivation facility and a 3,539-square-foot dispensary, along with all relevant parking, lighting and utility upgrades needed. The company owns 28 acres of land on two lots south of the veterinary hospital and southwest of Tree House Brewing Co., and will use about 5 acres for its project.

A meeting last week focused primarily on the traffic study presented by John Furman, office manager of Springfield engineering company VHB, on behalf of SunnyDayz. Using data guidelines from the state Department of Transportation, the study pulls 2016 traffic data on Routes 5 and 10 and applies a growth formula to predict the business’ impact.

“Because 5 and 10 is a fairly major highway, this facility will generate minor traffic,” Furman said. He added that the dispensary will generate the majority of the site’s traffic, but it will be a small store at only 900 square feet.

While the data is approved by MassDOT, the Planning Board requested if it was possible to get more recent data, especially because Tree House has brought a lot of traffic to town.

“Tree House, to a community like Deerfield, is a much different infrastructure increase,” Gaylord said. “I know this is going to be a sticking point for the community, is understanding what the implications are going to be. … The more information we have up front and the more we secure, it will alleviate a lot of headaches down the line.”

Beyond retail impacts, chief cultivation officer and co-owner Ken Bouquillon said there will be limited delivery traffic because SunnyDayz is a “single-source company” that produces everything in-house and will not be bringing products on site. It will, however, deliver some products to other dispensaries around the state.

As Furman and Bouquillon moved through the presentation, Planning Board members said several responses to Berkshire Design Group’s comments could use a little more explanation for clarity.

“As this is a document that is a work in progress, we would like more specificity,” Planning Board Chair Analee Wulfkuhle said. “When you talk about a waiver from the [tree] replacement bylaw, we don’t even know what you’re cutting down, so it’s hard for us to know the scope of what we would be giving you a waiver on.”

Expanding on the company’s energy plans, Bouquillon said the cultivation facility will not burn fossil fuels on site, which would “certainly top efficiency in the state of Massachusetts.”

Furman and Bouquillon agreed to put together a more comprehensive document for the Planning Board, as well as continue its filing process with the Conservation Commission.

“We’ll try and put together an official document that provides that,” Furman said. “We’re working on stormwater right now and after that, all we’ll have left is what we’re talking about right now.”

SunnyDayz’s public hearing is continued to the Planning Board’s April 3 meeting.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.]]>