Barre Select Board Advances Cannabis Host Agreement, Waives On-Site Sign Requirement

BARRE -- March 4, 2019, Barre Select Board and Planning Board hold joint session on first outdoor cannabis host community agreement. The board unanimously voted to waive an on-site sign requirement for Castle Rock Agricultural Enterprises, a locally based company proposing to grow cannabis on approximately 2.3 acres of a 134-acre property, and approved posting notice on the town signboard two weeks before each of two upcoming public hearings. A Planning Board member flagged several recommended revisions to the draft host community agreement, including a cleaner site map, a security plan review by someone with relevant expertise, and clarification of the assignment clause in Section 12 to name the Select Board as the written-consent authority. During public comment, a resident identified as Lucy urged the board to communicate more actively with the public about a string of recent Stetson School runaways, citing 269 Facebook shares of a March 1 police notice, and Chair Dr. Maureen Marshall offered a public apology, saying "despite our ongoing efforts it wasn't very public and it wasn't easy for people to know."