Two East Boston Adult Use Marijuana Proposals Sign Host Agreements with City

An adult use marijuana facility proposed for Meridian Street and another proposed for Maverick Square both signed host agreements with the City of Boston last week.

Berkshire Roots and East Boston Bloom, LLC both agreed to make quarterly payments equal to three percent of gross sales revenue to the city within thirty days after the end of each quarter.

Berkshire Roots is the largest grower of cannabis in the Berkshires and was the first medical marijuana dispensary to open in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The group recently received support from the Eagle Hill Civic Association to open an adult use facility inside a retail space at 253 Meridian Street.

Aside from paying the city three percent of its sales per quarter, Berkshire Roots also agreed to install security cameras in and around the business and to participate in public safety and beautification initiatives in and around the business.

According to the agreement with the city there will be no benches or social gathering areas in or around the business and Berkshire Roots agrees to prohibit smoking, vaping or any other form of consumption of marijuana onsite. The company also agrees to share data and reports to the Boston Public Health Commission as well as assist in the dissemination of materials related to public health, public safety and prevention efforts.

Luis Vasco, Steven Vasco, Nick Spagnola, and Julis Soko, owners of East Boston Bloom recently gave an presentation on their plans to open an adult use marijuana facility on the ground floor of a building owned by the Vasco Family in Maverick Square.

The presentation was very similar to the other five or six adult use facilities being proposed in the community. There will be top notch state of the art security, a high level of professionalism, a floor plan that ensures access to the facility is by adults 21 years or older. There will be no advertising, flashy signs or the ability to see the product being sold from the street. In fact, according to Vasco, customers will come in, place an order and the product will be retrieved from a locked vault in the back of the store.

East Boston Bloom’s proposal has gained the attention of many in the community looking for local entrepreneurs to emerge and take advantage of the new emerging business instead of outsiders.

All partners in East Boston Bloom from the Vascos to Spagnola and Soko are longtime Eastie residents with Luis Vasco being a celebrated business owner for the past 15 years. Vasco and his family have run Taco Mex in the square without incident and is a popular destination for thousands of residents.

Like the agreement between the city and Berkshire Roots there will be no benches or social gathering areas in or around the business and East Boston Bloom also agrees to prohibit smoking, vaping or any other form of consumption of marijuana onsite. The company also agrees to share data and reports to the Boston Public Health Commission as well as assist in the dissemination of materials related to public health, public safety and prevention efforts.

East Boston Bloom also agreed to install security cameras in and around the business and to participate in public safety and beautification initiatives in and around Maverick Square.

“These new host community agreements represent the city’s commitment to ensuring the cannabis industry in Boston brings opportunity to all communities, and continues the administration’s focus on creating a more equitable Boston,” city spokeswoman Samantha Ormsby said in a statement.

Both companies will now seek a “Conditional Use” permit from the Boston Zoning Board of Appeals on March 12.

If the two companies receive ZBA approval they can go on to the next step of obtaining a state marijuana licenses from the Cannabis Control Commission.

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