Some who testified also asked for the CCC to provide clarity on how community impact fees can be spent.
Rep.
Chauncy Spencer, a Black Boston resident who was among the first equity applicants in the city trying to open a dispensary in Roxbury, said the system and the industry are bogged down by structural racism.
Michael Soter, a Republican who represents several small communities in the Blackstone Valley, said he worried about how a change in the law would impact communities that have already negotiated host community agreements and budgeted for the money they expect to collect.
Colleen Garry, a Dracut Democrat, also said she worried that forcing communities to prove costs associated from increased traffic, parking or policing generated by marijuana businesses would put another burden on cities and towns.
Caroline Pineau, the owner of Stem in Haverhill, has gone so far as to sue the city to show her how the $400,000 in impact fees she owes under her host community agreement will be spent.
Vega said the host community agreements used by Holyoke is “boilerplate,” and would like to see more funds used to help the industry grow.
Boyer said three-quarters of the host community agreements he reviewed specified a percentage for an impact fee, and of those 90 percent were set at 3 percent.
Some who testified pointed to Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz’s recent decision to waive the 3 percent fee for marijuana businesses in his town, citing the lack of evidence that it was warranted.
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