Meowy Jane, with growing operations in Standish, plans to convert part of its existing cultivation from medical to adult recreational use. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

Meowy Jane, a Portland-based cannabis shop which has had cultivation operations in Standish since 2016, asked the town’s Planning Board to allow it to convert part of its existing operations from medical to adult recreational use.

Representing Meowy Jane before the Planning Board were co-owner Joseph Albert, and Jill Cohen, a lawyer from Verrill Dana who specializes in cannabis. Albert and Cohen presented the board with a site plan review application that seeks to convert part of the existing cultivation operation, initially around 1,000 square feet, from medical to adult use. In addition to the cultivation changes, additional security equipment will also need to be installed in order to be compliant with state law.

According to Cohen, there will be no public facing changes to the indoor cultivation facility; there will be no public access or retail sales. Rather, the business would simply be converting certain flower rooms to co-locate medical cultivation with adult use cultivation, which is legal under Maine law. These changes would put Meowy Jane in a Tier 2 cultivation license, according to the state. Standish currently allows Tier 1 and 2 cultivation licenses.

A Tier 2 license, Cohen explained, would allow Albert to cultivate up to 7,000 square feet, well above his current maximum of 2,000, the minimum required space for a Tier 2. The tier class would be measured based on the amount of space that the canopy and tables cover. Albert said that Meowy Jane didn’t technically need the 2,000 square feet yet, but over time, if they switch completely over to adult use, it would go to just above 2,000.

Since the changes will not affect the structure of the building, Cohen and Albert requested numerous waivers. Cohen also noted that the change in the facility’s use is also not expected to result in any increase in odor, and Albert and Cohen had previously submitted some documentation related to existing odor mitigation equipment and planned upgrades.

Town Planner Scott Hastings said the only thing the board needed to think about at that moment was whether the ordinance requires the management system to be developed by a licensed engineer, and if the board needed some review on that point. On the extensive waivers, he noted that there was no real need for a site plan if the site wasn’t changing in any way, and that the same waivers were used for the site during a change of use a few years prior. Since the submission requirements were largely concerned with site plans, in Hastings’ view, changes as simple as the ones Meowy Jane was proposing meant that all items should be waived since they don’t need to be submitted.

Board member Frank Nappi asked if the change meant that there would be more plants grown. Albert said, in terms of operations, the number of plants grown would be exactly the same, with the only changes being regulatory, as well as the aforementioned upgrades to the odor control and security systems.

When asked about why the building didn’t have a licensed engineer looking at it, Albert said that he had already gone through the process at other locations, one of which did not require a licensed engineer, but he understood if the Planning Board wanted one.

Board member Todd Delaney was concerned about the building’s proximity to the Pollywogs to Speckled Frogs preschool. According to Standish ordinance, a facility such as Meowy Jane is not to be located within 1,000 feet of a school, nor within 400 feet of a child care facility or community center. Albert said that he had previously measured the property on Google Maps, and other council members confirmed that the boundary line was well beyond 400 feet, although board member Carolyn Biegel said that Meowy Jane should have provided exact measurements.

The board then voted on a waiver for the submission requirements. While Biegel asked for final approval to be conditioned on proper clarification of the distance between the facility and the preschool, the board ended up passing the motion 6-1.