TYNGSBORO — The Select Board this week took steps forward regarding several land use projects, including a lawsuit involving the town and a proposed cannabis dispensary at 405-409 Middlesex Road, a proposed warehouse at 93 Kendall Road and several acres on Davis Road.
Owners of MJ’s Market, the Select Board, Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals are defendants in a lawsuit brought by Nature’s Remedy, an existing cannabis dispensary at 426 Middlesex Road.
MJ’s Market received a special permit and a variance from the town for a dispensary at 405-409 Middlesex Road — which is diagonally across the street from Nature’s Remedy — more than a year ago. Nature’s Remedy has challenged the special permit, and its lawsuit means MJ’s Market cannot work on the property.
At a meeting in early August, representatives of MJ’s asked the Select Board for help in resolving the issue. The board asked them to come back to this week’s meeting with financial information.
What was provided did not meet the Select Board’s expectations because MJ’s said they had to protect information that might be of interest to Nature’s Remedy.
With advice from a representative of town counsel, the board approved entering a joint defense agreement with MJ’s to come back with financial information. That will enable the parties to meet in executive session to discuss the suit.
The property at 405-409 Middlesex Road is the site of what Tyngsboro residents call simply “the yellow house.” Owned by the Elkarah Trust of Lowell, it is an unoccupied ranch-style house in need of repair, which Town Administrator Matt Hanson says is “the gateway to our town.”
On the proposed warehouse, attorney Peter Nicosia, representing SDG Development and Marcus Partners, came to the board meeting this week to ask members to indicate they are willing to waive the town’s right of first refusal to acquire land at 93 Kendall Road.
Nicosia’s clients want to build a 400,000-square-foot, high-bay warehouse near the park-and-ride. Plans include a joint driveway between the two.
The project is expected to bring in approximately $400,000 to 500,000 per year in new-growth tax revenue and expand the town’s water and sewer infrastructure, according to Nicosia. The property comes with a Chapter 61 tax status that gives the town the right of first refusal if there is a proposed change of use.
In other action, the Select Board voted to seek input from other town boards on the sale of 23 acres of town-owned land located off Davis Road to the state Department of Fish and Game for its appraised value of $54,800. The proposal came from Ann Gagnon, a land agent for the Fish and Game.
The property is landlocked and has no road frontage, but Gagnon owns a small piece of land that she would donate to solve that problem.
