Route 20 Medical Cannabis Dispensary Gets Key Approval

WAYLAND, MA — With a few caveats, the Wayland Planning Board this week approved plans for a medical cannabis treatment center to open along Route 20 near the Sudbury border.

At a meeting Tuesday, the planning board made small changes to Earth Well Farms site plan, but unanimously approved the plans pending two actions: the signing of a host-community agreement between the business and Wayland, and Earth Well Farms getting a provisional license from the Cannabis Control Commission.

Earth Well Farms applied to open the 526 Boston Post Road facility more than a year ago. Unlike retail cannabis stores, the Wayland treatment center would only be open to people who have a doctor's permission to use marijuana. Wayland has banned retail cannabis stories.

About half of the facility would be set aside for cultivating cannabis, and the dispensary would be about 2,000 square-feet, according to plans. The dispensary would also offer cannabis delivery services to medical patients in Wayland.

The Wayland Select Board signed off on the host-community agreement — a contract between a municipality and a marijuana business that governs operating hours, security and impact fees, among other items — at a meeting on June 27. Acting Town Manager Stephen Crane was set to sign the agreement after making small changes sought by the Select Board, but not done so as of Thursday, according to town officials. The planning board approval will be held in abeyance until the document is signed.

Wayland will levy a 3 percent impact fee from Earth Wells Farms' annual gross sales. That's the maximum allowed under state law. Crane has previously said he'd like to use revenue from the fees for youth and public health programs.

Earth Well Farms has not yet received a provisional license from the Cannabis Control Commission, according to state records. The delivery business associated with the dispensary, Earth Well Delivery, has been pre-certified, however.