Good afternoon everyone. We're just going to give it a moment to let the waiting room clear. Please make sure you're muted as you enter. And for those presenting, please make sure your audio and visuals are working. All right, we're going to get started.
Good afternoon. This is a hearing before the Boston Cannabis Board, the BCB. Today is March 18th, 2026. Today's hearing is being conducted pursuant to temporary amendments to the open meeting law. This is what allows us to meet virtually. This hearing is being recorded and will be posted to the city
of Boston's website. Before I review some procedural matters, I will introduce Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce. >> Good afternoon. My name is Kathleen Joyce, chair of the Boston Cannabis Board. Today, I'm pleased to be joined by Commissioner John Smith, Commissioner Sodor Gandhi,
Commissioner Jack Henslaw, and I think that's it, right? >> Thank you, Chairwoman Joyce. My name is Jasmine Wyn and I am the Boston Cannabis Board Manager. We also joined by Luke Santos who is our cannabis licensing specialist. Um I will begin by calling
each item in the order they appear on the agenda. We have one amendment to an already approved license and one new license application. Each amendment will have five minutes to present to the BCB and the new license will have 10 minutes followed by questions and comments from the board members. We will then take
public testimony beginning with elected officials or their representatives followed by the general public. Quick housekeeping matter. Item number two, Stones Throw LLC doing business as Firebrand cannabis will be rescheduled to another hearing date. I'll repeat
that again. Item number two, Stones Throw LLC doing business as Firebrand Cannabis will be rescheduled to another hearing date. Um, if you wish to testify, please sign up via the link that we put in the chat. If you already signed up to testify, you do not have to
do it again. Additionally, you may use the chat function to request to testify as well. Please wait until the matter in which you would like to speak about is called. Do not use the chat to give testimony. It will not be considered. Please state your full name, address, and affiliation, if any, when providing
testimony. Testimony will be limited to two minutes, at which time you will be muted. Additional testimony may be submitted in writing to cannabis board.gov. The record will be kept open until Monday, March 23rd at 5:00 p.m. The BCB does not give any more weight to spoken
testimony than it does written testimony. We will begin with the first matter. The license is Bergkshire Roots, Inc. doing business as Birkshshire Roots. The license premises 253 Meridian Street in East Boston. This is a co-located marijuana retailer and medical license. They commenced
operations in July of 2020. The initial operating hours were 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday um and 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. The current operating hours are 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, which
was approved on March 9th, 2022 by the BCB. Their proposed hours of operation are 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Who is present on behalf of the Lency? Hello, I am Chris Foley. I'm
the current CEO of Berkshire Roof. Um, >> Hi, Chris. You have five minutes to present. You may be. >> Sure. So, I'm going to share my screen. Um, can everybody see that? Okay. >> No, we're not seeing your screen.
>> What? Okay. Can you see it now? >> No. >> Okay. I'm not sure what's going on there. >> Hold on. I can I can share your presentation. >> There it is. >> There it goes. Okay.
>> All right. Sorry about that. Um took a minute to >> There it goes. >> It got on the screen. So, we're Bergkshire Roots, 253 Maridian Street, East Boston, Mass. Uh, as was mentioned, licensed cannabis retailer, uh, serving both medical and recreational patients,
community focused and complianceoriented. Our proposal is to uh adjust our hours to have a little bit of an earlier opening time on Monday through Saturday with no change to Sunday. Uh closing
hours would remain the same. This is our current unchanged hours. Uh what we're requesting as I just mentioned uh new hours are Monday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. Reasons that we're requesting this
better access for medical patients allow patients reliable access to care before work appointments daily responsibilities. Earlier opening creates a calmer, more accommodating environment that prioritizes their needs. Help customers with early work schedules
shop at a time that fits their day and help spread out customer traffic throughout that time. For community impact, there's no later nights, no increase in noise or loitering, and security and staffing
would remain the same. our commitment, continued compliance with the CCC and BCB regulations, ongoing communication with the community, and address any concerns promptly. So, you know, again, we appreciate the community and
consideration and welcome any questions or feedback. >> Thank you, Chris. We will move to questions and comments from the board members beginning with Chairwoman Joyce. >> Um, thanks uh thank you for for uh giving us an opportunity to ask
questions like this. I'm concerned about the impacts on the neighborhood with this change of hours. I remember the last time you were for us for a change of hours, there were concerns about traffic and congestion. I think I actually went out to the site um and um
I know you were initially approved before there was the Boston Cannabis Board. So, for those of us that now sit in this position, um can you please tell us in more detail about uh your conversations with the community back
then again in 2022 when you had your hours changed for the first time and most recently cuz those are the concerns I have about it's a very congested area about how opening up earlier is going to impact commutes and traffic and um
>> sure can't necessarily speak on conversations in 2022 as my involvement was I didn't have any involvement at that time. Um I know our initial change of hours was to
open later and we changed the hours from the initial 9:00 a.m. to I believe it was 7:00 p.m. to 10 to 9. So, initially we were approved for the 9:00 a.m. opening time, but adjusted that in favor of a later closing time, if that makes
sense. And as far as the traffic and such, um, we don't see a high volume of, um, cars. What we see in a lot of our patrons is the people walking by, the
people using public transit um, and such. So, we don't anticipate any real change there and we're just fire alarm just went off of course. Um, so we don't really anticipate any change
to our traffic currently other than spreading out our current business over the course of one extra hour. >> Okay. I mean traffic impacts for the the neighborhood where where do your um customers generally park?
>> So I like I said typically a lot of the folks are using public transit and or walkers um you know that there are the occasional car they would park out front or um just around the corner but but typically I would say 80% of our customers are not driving.
>> Okay. Again, I don't have the data to back that up. >> And did you engage with the neighborhood about this request? >> Yeah, I'm sorry. >> Um, did you engage with the neighborhood about this request to extend your hours?
>> We did. We talked with the Eagle Hill um group. We have talked with the neighbors. We've posted the flyers. We've sent letters to all of Butters um to which you know the generally positive from the Eagle Hill
group and with the initial meeting with the BCB and the Butters we didn't nobody attended that meeting. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Apologies but I actually have to go. We have a fire alarm.
>> Okay. Uh, we'll have to defer this then so people have an opportunity to >> Okay, we'll we'll defer this matter then. >> Is there any Sorry. Can we Can we continue and I'll take my laptop with me? I'm not trying to
>> It's up to you. I know. >> All right, let's continue. I I I'll >> Well, I think we should move on to the next If you have to leave the building right now, I think it might be a good idea for us to move on to number two. Then we can come back maybe >> or maybe if you want to we'll do a
second call at the end. >> Okay. >> If you able to come back, >> apologies. >> That's okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, we'll do a second call call on um Barretts. >> Perfect. Bye.
>> All right. So we moving along. So again, item number two was Stones Throws Cannabis LLC. They are being rescheduled to a later hearing date. So we will move to our new license application. The applicant is premium package LLC. The
proposed license permits is 717 to 721 American Legion Highway in Rosendale. The license type is a product manufacturer license. The proposed hours of operation are 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 7 days a week. This is an equity applicant. They filed their application on August 15th, 2025. They held their
community meeting on January 8th, 2026. There was a buffer zone conflict with another cannabis establishment. And before we begin with the presentation, I will have Akila Armstrong, who is the cannabis equity program manager for OEOI, to read the equity certification into the record.
>> Thank you, Jasmine, and good afternoon to everyone. Our office was able to certify Premium Package LLC as an equity applicant through the documentation submitted by the applicant Jamal Renee. Mr. Renee is the co-owner and 51% beneficial interest holder of premium
package meeting the 51% ownership interest threshold set forth in the ordinance. Mr. Renee meets the following criteria. One, a person who has resided in an area of disproportionate impact as defined by the Cannabis Control Commission for at least five of the last
um 10 years. Mr. Mr. Renee submitted a residential lease and utility bills establishing Boston residency from 2023 to present day. And then the geocoder address search tool confirms that the address provided by Mr. Renee is located within census track 917 which has been
designated as an area of disproportionate impact per CCC guidelines. Additionally, Mr. Renee submitted W2s and credit card statements establishing res residency in Randolph from 2021 and 2022. The city of Randolph has also been designated as an area of
disproportionate impact per CCC guidelines. Number two, he's a person who has been certified by the CCC as an economic empowerment or social equity participant and is a resident of Boston for at least one of the last three years. Mr. Renee has been certified by
the CCC as a social equity participant since May of 2024 and has, as stated earlier, Mr. Renee has provided his utility bills establishing his Boston residency for one of the last three years. And number three, a person who is of black, African-American, Hispanic,
Latino, Asian, or indigenous descent. And Mr. Renee selfidentifies as black and and has provided his driver's license. Are there any questions of the certification? >> See none. Thank you, Aquila. >> Thank you.
>> Who is present on behalf of the applicant? >> Uh, hello. Hi everybody. Thank you to the BCB board. Thank you Akquila and Jasmine. My name is Jamal Renee and I'll be presenting on behalf of Premium Package LLC. >> Okay. Um you can share your screen. You
will have 10 minutes to present. >> Uh hello. Can everybody see my screen? >> Yes. >> Okay. Hi everybody. Um, as I said before, my name is Jamal Renee. Speaking on behalf of Premium Package LLC, 100%
equity owned business looking to operate a licensed cannabis manufacturing at 717 to 721 American Legion Highway in Rosenddale, Massachusetts. Um, a little bit more about Premium Package
LLC. Uh our goal is to manufacture edibles extracts as well as other cannabis goods. Um we are 100% local owned with strong Boston ties. My co-owner Camores is from Matapan
uh about a mile from where we're looking to establish our business. And in all honesty, we're committed to hiring Boston residents uh specifically those from areas of disproportionate impact as well as equity owned and equity certified businesses and individuals. Uh
through this uh we understand that there is a buffer conflict with 7721 American Legion Highway which is City Farm Therapeutics. However, my business partner CSA has had a long-standing relationship with Silver Therapeutics
and this past October, Silver went through uh removing the manufacturing provision in their HCA to allow us to enter into and utilize their facility for product manufacturing.
Um as I said there essentially uh our reason for going to 717 721 is because it was a purposely built space. Uh Silver Therapeutics City Farm built this space with product manufacturing
involved essentially allowing for an equity business such of ourselves to go in and essentially forego a lot of the expensive costs in locating and finding a space that was
built for manufacturing. Um through this special relationship that my business partner has had with Silver Therapeutics, we were able to find not only a place already built for product manufacturing, but also went through the necessary ZBA
um and other zoning regulations to ensure that product manufacturer is not only something that the community accepted uh but also was adhering to all zoning requirements in the city of Boston. Um we take security very seriously and
we understand that um especially as a product manufacturing company that security is something that we must take seriously and so we understand that this is not something that's going to be available and open to the public. This is something that will
have no customers and everything will be access controlled and we'll have cameras at all exits and anywhere where cannabis is being used or storage >> 247 >> 247. Um,
so we understand there's no public sales, there's no consumption allowed on the premises. We're essentially just going in there packaging cannabis products and shipping them to their designated areas. >> No. >> No miners. >> No members of the public.
>> And no members of the public. Um and so we intend to be fully compliant with the CCC and all Boston fire and safety codes. We'll have proper ventilation and hazardous materials on all labels as well as not safe for kids and for 21 plus consumption only. And we'll also have on-site security during operating
hours. Um, as I said, not safe for kids labeling on all of our packaging and all employees must complete responsible vendor training as well as additional training. And we and the way that the 7721
building is built, it's not it's the manufacturing side to the building is not at all accessible to the public nor any minors. And so it's truly a separate part of the building that can only be accessible with a with access controlled identification.
Um, in terms of our positive community impact plan, again, as I said in the beginning, we're really focused on hiring from those in the Boston area, um, our goal is to employ a workforce of 80% from priority population. So that's black,
latina, latinx, sorry, indigenous women, veteran, disabled, and LGBTQ. We're focused on the ra the neighborhoods of Rosenddale, Madapan, High Park, as well as Jamaica plane. And additionally, we want to support others who want to enter
the cannabis industry, specifically social equity applicants. And through that, we have a goal of supporting two diversely led SE businesses through the year. Um, again, we're we don't want to become
a nuisance to the community. Um, we understand that this space was built for this and so we understand that there'll be strict order control. We'll ensure that everything is discreet. There's nothing accessible to the public. Um, and we'll schedule deliveries with traffic management in mind. And if
anything does happen or occur, we'll immediately report to Boston Police Department as well as the CCC. Uh with that with all license and permits we will ensure that they're maintained and up to date with the CCC as well as Boston cannabis board and
we'll ensure that our HCA is completely transparent and we'll always have an ongoing and good neighborhood conduct and conversations with the neighborhood governing bodies. And so we are certainly open to questions, feedback,
um, and are open and grateful for the opportunity to be here to speak behalf of Premium Impact LLC. >> Sorry, Desmond. No. >> Um, thank you for that. We'll move to questions and comments from the board members beginning with Chairman Joyce.
>> Thank you. Thanks for that presentation. Just a couple questions to clarify what I I think you uh mentioned in your presentation. So, you're a manufacturing establishment and you're talking about deliveries. Um, are you delivering these to retail
establishments? Are you delivering them to like a single place in the city or statewide? And how often do you think those deliveries will be? Are you delivering directly to consumers? CSMR to answer.
>> See us some more here. Hope you can hear me. Okay. Um, thanks to BCP. Thanks for the question. I think um what Jamal was really referring to was the deliveries that we were going to be receiving. And um so when we do ship a product out,
it'll be a similar uh delivery service. And so, uh, um, we're not we're not going to be delivering to customers homes or anything like that. This is kind of strictly a B2B thing. And we would use a third-party delivery service
to uh, deliver the supplies that we need and to pick up the u products that we make to deliver them to another lency. >> Okay. Um, and then I might have more questions
about that after, but um, you mentioned it's not open to the public. Is access is there access to your space from the retail space next door or just from outside? >> Um, only
controlled access. So, you would have to you would have to be uh someone with that's specifically been given access to that space. Then you would enter you could enter through um the the store section. You would have to go into the back essentially, but you could go
through the front and through make connections through a a number of locked doors to get to our space, but um it'll be less locked doors through our own entrance on the side. >> Okay. Okay. So, the answer is yes. They could get they're connected. They could
>> not not a member of the public. Only somebody who had a access. >> Okay. >> Card or key. >> And like who would that be? The owners of the people next door. >> Only the people that are authorized to uh work with us.
>> That's my question. >> Oh, there's a series of doors. They have their space that they're going to be allowed into with their own access. So, why would they be coming into your space? Like the manager of the place next door is coming by to check on his manufacturing.
>> I missed the question. Could you ask me again? >> You're saying only people with access can get from one place to the other. So, who would who would those people be? The owner, the manager, the average worker, and why would they be coming next door if if it's tell me tell me how that
works. Is it as simple as you would just be they would be handd delivered? But why would people be coming back and forth? >> I don't understand. I don't understand your question. Um the members of the public wouldn't be coming back and forth. Um I'm just talking about access
to the controlled manufacturing space in the back. >> Okay. So the who why would someone from the retail place employee or not? >> I'm I'm saying if I'm I'm talking about the physical structure of the space. >> Okay. If the owners or the employees of
the licensed manufacturer wanted to come in through the front through the one side of the building, it's possible there would be more locked doors and so on. That's the layout of the building. We have our own entrance on the side which would be locked of
course and would still only allow people from the manufacturing license authorized thing owners, managers, employees to enter that space. >> Okay. And tell me a little bit about what exactly you are manufacturing.
um cannabis products, pre-rolls of different types of pre-rolls, you know, um uh other packages of flour and then cartridges and potentially different forms of edibles. >> Okay. But right now, um it's just the
stuff you mentioned at the beginning before potentially edibles. >> We're really just looking at pre-ruules right now. I'm just trying to get an idea licensing and all. We're really >> I'm trying to get an idea of what is being manufactured on site
what your plan is right now. >> I'm sorry. Could you could you ask me again? I couldn't hear it because we we have two microphones. I'm just trying to >> Okay. Pretty straightforward question. What are you planning on manufacturing on site?
Uh, cannabis pre-rolls. >> Okay, that's it for now. >> That's it for now. >> Okay, thank you. Those are all my questions. >> Thank you, Commissioner Donnie. Do you have any questions?
>> Um, yes, I do. And I know this has been asked already by Chairwoman Joyce, but the question I also had was the deliveries, um, are they going to the adjacent store, Silver or are they being distributed as you
said B2B to other locations around the city? So that's question one and I'll pause uh for if you have a response to that now or you want to uh you know I' I'd like to hear some clarification on that. >> Yes. So as a licensed manufacturer our
understanding is that we can make products for any licensed retailer and sell them to any licensed retailer in the city or outside of the city. And so we plan to operate like a licensed manufacturer and um there's a process
for moving products and selling products from a manufacturer to a retailer. We look to just follow all of those same rules. So um and that would be the same with uh Silver Therapeutics who shares a building with us. we would just continue
to follow the same compliant regulations that we're obligated to to sell products to anyone else and we hope to be able to make uh products for a wide range of retailers in the city. Um we we we
haven't secured uh all those contracts yet. >> That's super helpful. Thank you. Um, and do you have all the infrastructure required, parking spaces, security, etc. that would come as part of the B2B
deliveries of products? >> Yes, I believe so. >> Okay. And then a clarifying question on the facility itself. It looks like it's, and correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just looking at the floor plan right now.
It's it's one building and you're sharing the the manufacturing that was in Silverleaf is now being moved out into your into this space. Is that correct? And is it is it is it a shared building? Is it one building sharing a wall?
>> Yes. So, it's one building and um originally I I believe Silver Therapeutics was going to conduct all of these licensed fac uh activities with under the same roof. um and they were approved to do so as well. Um and and so
um they chose not to do manufacturing for whatever reason and um allowed us to take over the space to do manufacturing in the same space. But I don't think it's ever it's never been built out or used as a manufacturing license before it was just approved.
>> What happens to the space that Silver Therapeutics was going to use for this purpose that it's no longer going to be used for this purpose? for manufacturing, we're going to be using it. Um, if they have other space for other license activity, I I I I
don't know. Okay. >> Okay. Um, and then the other question I had is, they was this space has has it already been fit out for these purposes? >> Um, so this still requires like some
interior um construction to complete the space. >> Okay. Okay. The reason I asked that question is number one um you know that there's going to be capital costs associated with fit out of space and want to make sure that those capital costs you know are you know sustain the
business that you're looking at for kind of current future um future revenue sources. So, um, I'd like to kind of make sure that any capital costs that are incurred, um, as part of this project, um, you know, have a have a
sustainable and long-term revenue model that, uh, ensure that this business will be successful. >> Thank you. >> Yes, there are capital costs involved here with the buildout. >> And have you done the have you done the
analysis to ensure that um, this is something that can be sustained? Yes. Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Commission SM, do you have any questions? >> Thank you, Jasmine. How are you, sir?
Um, just want to get a little bit more specific on your employment plan. Boston Res, how many people are you thinking of employing? >> Um, at this time, you know, we expect to hire less than five people. So it, you know, we're not hiring a whole lot, but
we will be um advertising locally and trying to get local. So >> you're thinking less than five. >> Yeah. And thinking to ramp up within a couple years or something or just start >> Yeah. Over time um over time we would expect to ramp up as we increase our uh productivity. But initially, you know,
um we start with a smaller >> Thank you. You mentioned competitive wages and benefit. What's your wage scale? Um, well, we haven't hired anyone now. Um, I was going to >> I first thing I was going to do was check Boston's um,
uh, what do you call it? Living wi living living wage. Uh, Boston's living wage. >> You haven't looked at that yet. And so well I no because I'm familiar with it in Cambridge and they had a living wage
where it started and so that was uh how I approached that issue there and I was looking to just approach it here in a similar way. Uh start at the living wage that um Boston prescribes if they do. >> Okay. So you haven't looked at that yet but you're going to start at Okay. Um
what are you thinking about in terms of your employees benefits? Um well, we we haven't offered anyone employment yet. I get it. >> But we'd like to offer them as much as we can. Um with all of the concerns involved, you know, um that that's still
a question on exactly what we're going to be able to offer them, but um we, you know, we'd like to offer as much as we're able to um as the conditions would allow. >> Okay. Safety and security. How many people are you thinking in terms of
safety and security personnel? Is that part of the five? >> No. So, so all of our personnel will be trained up for safety and security of the uh premises and then we have the 24-hour um
monitored uh video surveillance as well as the the backup service to that. So, someone won't be watching this space technically um at least through video cameras all the time. Um we we're not going to hire 24hour
security personnel. Um >> so you have five employees who you're going to train to they're going to do manufacturing and security. >> Well, they'll be trained for the security of the of the location and so
on and how to keep the place secure. So, you won't have like a kind of specific security team. >> We won't pay for a separate security team. No, >> but you'll have it monitored by camera. >> Yes. 24-hour video surveillance. So, someone's looking at the video cameras.
Um, >> who who would be the someone? Is that someone you're paying for that or >> Yeah, we pay for it. >> No, no, but is that a separate entity, organization, or an employee? >> Yes, that's a service. It's a service you're going to pay for. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Um you mentioned also in your memos that you will have programs including tours and stuff like that. How are you thinking of managing that? >> Um so yeah, it's a program to um offer access in a tour and um just like other
licensed spaces, you know, um you have to really control when you have people who are not u regularly authorized there. So, we would do the um we would sign them in in a guest log and give them guest uh give them guest um ID
for the time that they're there if we're bringing them through some of these controlled spaces. >> And the employees themselves would the the employees who are doing the manufacturing would be responsible for the tours and the so forth. I just want to understand how you're doing.
>> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Um um >> because a lot of people don't really know I feel like um uh what it looks like in a manufacturing space or what people do and is encouraging people to
get into the business. It might be helpful for them to see a facility. >> What does it look like in a manufacturing space? um >> bringing people that you would be bringing people into without um kind of specialized security, but everybody
would have a say in that. >> Uh what does a manufacturing space look like? Well, I think they're really >> like if I walked in, could I just grab something? >> No, you could. No, everything's locked up in controlled kind of spaces. Things
aren't just laying about. And in a manufacturing facility, you have a schedule, you know, of when things are made and when things come in and uh you kind of everything's controlled like that. So, um
yeah, no, things are not laying out. It's a very very controlled environment. I think more controlled than people realize a lot of the time. And uh everything everything's controlled and down to the time, you know. >> Okay. Just a couple other things. You
talked about individualized mentorship and business development. Is that something that's happening within that space during working time? Are you selecting folks for that? How does that look? >> Um, so I don't think about that space as
much. Um, prioritize for the the mentorship. I think mentorship take place um outside of the location as well. um uh mentorship is, you know, communication and a lot of other things.
So, it doesn't all have to take place right at the uh facility. Um this is for perhaps other people that are looking to get into the cannabis licensed businesses. Maybe they're looking at manufacturing. Um then we we can mentor
them without always being in the facility. I feel like they actually need assistance with a lot of other things. >> So that's a separate program. You do that in a separate space, not necessarily where you're located.
>> Yeah. I mean, they they'll still should be welcome and brought through the space, but it doesn't have to take place there. No. And >> do people need any type of security clearances and stuff to be in there, or it's just >> um to be in the manufacturing space?
>> To be within the space. Yeah. >> Yeah. They need to be um with an authorized uh person and show ID and sign in. >> And you and Mr. Renee would be the authorized people >> right now. >> So, as long as they're with as long as
they're with you, they're okay to be in the space. >> Um as after as long as they showed us ID, too. They need to be 21 and everything else, you know, need to be 21. So again, I'm just being hypothetical
here. If you're not in the space, but your employees who are also trained on security in the space and I came to visit the space, would I be let in? >> No, it's not. People don't just come to visit. This is a program that we would set up with specific times to host
people there. >> Okay. Um, you talked about providing financial contributions up to up to $1,000 per participating organizations. Could you kind of break that up a little bit? How do you select these organizations when
you projecting to do that? >> Um, and is that your max, just up to $1,000 and thinking about that? >> Um, just initially, you know, it's hard to promise uh much more than that uh when we haven't been able to start operations. But um the the way these
things go, we look to support other businesses that are like ourselves that happen to be maybe social equity, economic empowerment, maybe they've been looking um to uh make inroads in this space for a while. Um we know that these
companies need money and any any amount of money is helpful for these companies um going through all that they go through. And that's where I think um some of the mentorship is as well. As you know, the process um for licensing a
company in Massachusetts is can be difficult. And so I feel like anything we can do to support some of these other businesses like us um is a positive thing and um and supports and builds the whole industry into kind of uh the more
diverse one that we want to see. And so what we plan to do uh in the uh submitted plan here is to um look for and evaluate exactly these types of groups within Boston uh that that may be
looking to do this same type of stuff and um we would qualif we would evaluate them. we'd find who they were, qualified them, and evaluate them and then choose uh I believe it's two. We would choose
one or two to um give some funds to on a regular basis and um hopefully that would be uh of help to them as they're making their way into the biz. >> Okay. So it wouldn't be a community community benefit in the sense that you
would be giving money to for instance nonprofit organizations and so forth for programs and activities. It would be to help start up businesses and ongoing support to those businesses. Yes, that's what I'm hearing. >> So So it's >> Yes. So this nonprofit is is well
there's nonprofits too, but this in this case we're talking about social equity and economic empowerment businesses and Yes. So that's what it would look like. So it' be a business a business almost transaction where you're helping folks >> support. Yeah. And I we we look at a
nonprofit kind of the same. We would have to evaluate any nonprofit in the same kind of way. Make sure that our values um align and we would have to seek a written agreement. >> Under understood. But in this particular iteration of the plan, you're talking
about giving to for-profit social equity businesses. Absolutely. Not a not a community benefit for >> within Well, these are within the community. These are these are within the community. >> Within the High Park community, nothing outside >> Boston. >> All of Boston. >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Thank you, sir. Thank you, Jasmine. >> Yeah. You're welcome. Thanks. >> Commission on counseling. >> Thank you, Jasmine. Um, is there any direct like business relationship between you guys and Silver Therapeutics? I know you mentioned that there was like the some like personal
connections that go back a while, but like it's two completely separate businesses. >> Absolutely. Two separate uh businesses and um all the only arrangement we have is for the uh lease the lease agreement
right now. >> Okay. And so like because it's it would technically be a a buffer variance but they're not using the space anymore. Is there is there anything other than the the lease that you provided that indicates that like they're basically like waving any buffer rights or they
don't have any issue with this or is is the the lease the only document that you have? No, I I believe they went before the ZBA in Boston and actually requested for their allowance of manufacturing license at this location to be removed from the
host community agreement so that we specifically so that us specifically could come into this space and do the same thing. >> Okay. >> Um and so you mentioned you're you plan on starting with around five employees.
Um what would the like full-time part-time split be? Would it be five full-time employees? >> Even five even five employees is a lot at this moment. Um um you know, we we would work up to that and we would probably start with more like one or
two. Um and and you know, we're building these businesses as you know, these are not guaranteed money. So, you know, we wouldn't get ahead of ourselves and hire more people than we uh have a need to. But basically um
each each product that you produce in a manufacturer, right, is going to require a certain amount of labor and stuff like labor and supplies. And so we we'll know kind of how much we need as far as
employees um before we do it. And like I said, initially we would only hire maybe half of those five um as we work up to more. Um because it's kind of we're we're building ourselves up um
not down. >> Okay. Do you think you would start with full-time for just one or two people or start them at part-time because you're just like really careful about growing slowly? >> We're open to both. You want to answer that Jamal? Yeah, I'm open to both.
Okay. Um, and what sort of uh machinery would you have inside the facility? Is it something where you'd have like a a grinding machine and a pre-roll packing machine or is it something that you're planning on having people do by hand?
>> No. No. So, yeah, we would there's um some some industry standard like like pre-roll uh and flower packaging uh mach machinery if you want to call it machinery. It's not very big. Um, it does require uh some hand stuff, but
it's basically they're they're machines. They're tools to make these things and they're pretty standard. Um, >> we would use those. And so would you plan on having it like having the product be delivered to you
as like you know full intact flour and you kind of grind it yourself in the machines and pack it in or would you have it delivered preg grinded? >> So both both >> I think there's opportunities for for
both. Um but yeah we would like to have the ability um to grind flour. It's part of our process, but you know, there's also a lot of opportunity to purchase um preground material as well.
>> And so, what is the um like ventil ventilation and air filtration system that's in in the facility already look like? Is it something that was set up by Silver Therapeutics and so you're able to utilize that or is it something that you're going to have to like beef up a
little bit more to to handle this? That's that's it. The second one I mean the space is just there but it's from what it looks like it was never used for this purpose yet. So we still have to come in and um bring those things up to
uh operational code if we want to do that and um and so yeah we would have to have to build that stuff. >> Okay. Do you have a sense of like what what that process looks like yet or is it you're just kind of taking it one step at a time and that'll be one of the
the next things you do to make sure it's fitted out for it? >> Um we we've already spoke to uh some contractors and we've gotten some quotes on some of this stuff. I think we know what it looks like um to get where we're trying to go. Um and then we know what
successive kind of growth after that looks like. Um and that's why we don't start with a lot of employees or a lot of machinery. we can kind of start uh relatively small. >> Okay. And do you do you plan on having like um masks or respirators or something to
that effect available to your employees while they're working in the space? >> Yeah. So, we're very aware of the um health concerns about manufacturing cannabis in this state. We're also aware of the history um with particullet and
so on. So we would take that extremely uh serious if we were like like you're suggesting grinding uh flour dry powdered kind of material. Very aware of um the the dangers of that and so that
that's kind of the thing. Um it's it's our job to build a safe space to do these things and u we look forward to it. >> Okay. And then what's your like uh recruitment plan like? How how do you plan on um spreading awareness and and
the job postings to make sure that it it gets out to people and you can attract good candidates? >> Um so we did have we have a list of local u kind of media uh outlets that we've identified as
serving the populations we're trying to target. And so that's kind of where we start is with some of these uh media organizations, whether they're papers or uh like online media things, videos,
audio and different types of stuff, radio, podcasts, these different type of things to to target the um employees that we want. And so then one the ones that we want are the diverse local ones. >> Okay. And then is there there's space in
the the building you have already for like you know proper like bathrooms, changing rooms and break rooms and stuff like that. >> Um so yes and um I think part of one of the plans is is us building another
bathroom. So there are facilities there to support what Silver does and we'll make sure that we have the facilities to support what we do. This there's already bathrooms there, multiple bathrooms. One of one one of the part of our plan is to
build our own. >> So So currently it would be that you like share those facilities with the the dispensary workers at Silver, but you plan on building your own so you don't have to do that anymore. Yeah, we don't really look forward to sharing any space. We're looking forward to building
our own space here. >> Okay. >> All right. I think those are the only questions uh I have for now. Thank you. >> Thanks, >> Jasmine. I if if I may, I have one question. um on the employees. Um if
your if a lot of your business plan is dependent on or you know on delivery of of some of the product if of those five employees how many like where is the driver for the delivery of
this product? >> You want to answer that? >> Yeah. So um we're not the ones who are driving. Um there's a separate company that handles deliveries for cannabis companies and so we're simply just packaging the material and then those
people would come up and pick up the packages or slash or deliver the product that we are packaging. >> Okay. So that would not be an employee one of the five. >> No. >> And there is parking and loading and we will not be that vehicle will not be in
the public right of way. >> No, not at all. There's parking at the 717 721 facility. It has its own parking lot um with about I believe at least 14 parking spaces. >> Thank you.
>> Jasmine, if I may, I have one last question. >> Mr. Samura you when we you mentioned that the the five which is now half of five employees 2.5 employees um would be
responsible for security in the memos that you submitted to us just sort of looking back um it says the premium package will employ trained security staff to monitor the facility during operational hours and respond to any
security residents But then you mentioned to me that you're not hiring any trained security. So I just want to it feels a little dissonant. So I just want to ask you that. >> Yes, sir. >> You you you in other words in your
safety and security plan you put on-site security personnel where it talks about having trained security staff. So the facility will be controlled access meaning only registered agents and escorted visitors will be permitted
entry and that you'd have a designated community layers on there. So then when um so you originally told me five and then we now we're saying not five to commissioner Kinsley. So is it
I'm a little bit confused how that works. So, if you could just kind of flesh that out for me, I'd appreciate it. >> Yeah. Well, I mean, um, yes. So, we look to kind of scale up and, um, not to get
too big for the, um, for the work that we have uh, initially. So, that's the explanation for um, uh, the low employee numbers. Um, and plan to do that, >> right? But in the plan, you said you'd
have trained security staff. >> And so that language is about what I was explaining to you that um who will pay for um we pay a service where they watch
all of our videos and someone's eyeballs are watching all the videos in case anything happens in the entire site on all of the cameras. And then if something does happen, they uh notify us, set an alarm. They
can also notify the police and stuff like that. So, um I I think this is pretty a standard service. I think a lot of licences are using to monitor their um their place. I think it's cuz the CCC requires it actually. But um that that's
that's what we mean by um 24/7 we'll have video surveillance and people will be watching those cameras. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other follow-up questions from the
board? >> I did have one more. Jasmine. >> Thank you. Um, so back to the um for the the drivers. So you're using the outside service when it's something where like when when this service is picking up
your product that's then getting delivered to other dispensaries, how would that work operationally? Is it like the the drivers of whatever the delivery vehicle in would go into the manufacturing plant and like pick up all of the product to take out? Would there
be some like room in between that they don't have to go through all of the badge access doors and so they just have it ready for them to pick up or would your employees like take it out to them in the truck and load it in there? The way we envision it is that we would
schedule the uh pickup from the service first and so that scheduling would include entrances to the metric seed to sale system for cannabis in Massachusetts. Um the
driver would uh arrive to our location at the um set aside time and they would notify us that they are there. We would then uh guide them in. We would check their ID,
give them a guest pass if they don't have one, bring them in, show the stuff cuz we may have to weigh it and do some other paperwork. And they would they would pick it up there, move it to their vehicle. It's all underneath the uh video cameras.
And then they once it's in their vehicle, then they would take it to their uh destined place. Okay. And so if like a driver showed up and they hadn't arranged a pickup ahead of time, then like you would know something's wrong and you could just deny them picking up access or something.
>> Yeah. No, these are scheduled pickups um from from the company. And uh >> Yeah. No, it it wouldn't work just people showing up like that or anything like that. These are very well scheduled and even, you know, we shouldn't be transferring cannabis unless it's been
entered into the state system anyway. So that they wouldn't even leave their location if unless they were prepared to do these uh >> Yeah. >> and compliantly. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Any additional questions from the board? >> All right. Seeing none, we'll move with to public testimony beginning with elected officials or their representatives. >> Good afternoon, Madame Chair and members. Siggy Johnson with the Office of Neighborhood Services. This application completed a community
process through ONS. Our office hosted an abuters meeting on January 8th, which there were questions about the nature of the relationship between City Farm and the proposed license holder. There was also a question about a proposed proximity buffer zone conflict. The
applicants reached out to the Mount Hope Canterbury Neighborhood Association. Not aware of any concerns from that group. That background judgment is deferred to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sigi. Are there any other elected officials or their representatives that would like to speak?
All right. I don't believe anyone signed up to testify. Would anyone else like to provide testimony? All right. Seeing no one, the board will take this matter under adisement. Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, we can quickly return to
item number one, Berkshire Roots, Inc. Not sure if he was able to log back on. Chris Foley, are you >> I am back on. I am back on. And I apologize for the craziness earlier. We did have a fire alarm, although it was a false alarm. >> No, that's okay. All right. So, are you
good to proceed or? >> Yes. >> Okay. Perfect. All right. So, we're moving back to item one, Burkshare Roots, and this is for an amendment to their hours. The proposed hours are 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on
Sunday. Um, Chair Joyce, if you want to continue. >> Thank you. And sorry about the fire alarm. I'm glad you're safe, but I'll I'll keep it simple. I'm concerned about the impacts of these of the additional hours um on the neighborhood in general. It's
very tight there. I've been out there to visit. I've walked through and I know this is now your second request for a change of ours. I want to hear about your interaction with the businesses nearby, the neighborhood, and what their
thoughts were about um this this request for additional hours. >> Sure. And our initial meeting with um the community again, we we didn't have any concerns. There's actually nobody showed up for that. And then with the
meeting with the Eagle Hill, there were also zero concerns and zero questions. Um, I know we've spoke to some of our neighbors and and again, we we haven't been met with any concerns. If anything, we think that we're probably going to
spread some of our business out a little bit more over time and have less impact at later hours in the day and pick up really only a small percentage of customers in that window. >> Okay, I'll let the others ask questions. >> Thank you. Commissioner Gotti, do you
have any questions? >> No questions. Thank you. >> Commissioner Smith. >> Thank you, Jasmine. None. Thank you, >> Commissioner Kinsley. >> Thank you, Jasmine. Um, so I think you had said earlier that um you didn't like
this wouldn't impact your staffing levels at all. So, could you just talk about like what actions you would take in order to cover that additional hour if it would just be like, you know, rearranging schedules, adding more hours, moving some part-time employees to full-time?
>> Um, there really wouldn't be any change to our current staffing levels. And as far as the hours are concerned, we have inventory staff and managers who are arriving and getting things ready. If anything were to change, we may have one extra employee who adds an hour to their
morning and then they would leave an hour earlier or later in the day. So, no impact to total hours work, but potentially a shift in somebody's schedule to come in an hour earlier, but that's about >> Has there been has there been any discussion with your employees to see,
you know, how many of them would appreciate being able to start an hour earlier versus like wanting to keep the same? >> Yeah, of course. you know, we had an ongoing discussion and you know, at which point we are potentially approved.
We have folks ready to jump and in comment earlier. >> All right, that's my only question. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any followup from the board on this matter? >> All right. Uh we will now move to public
testimony beginning with elected officials of the representatives. Madame Chair and members, Siggy Johnson with the Office of Neighborhood Services. This applicant has completed the ONSled community process. Our office hosted an abutters meeting on February 11th. Meeting notices were certified mailed to each of Butter and 300 ft. Noah Butters
attended this meeting. The applicant met with the Eagle Hill Civic Association. That group is supporting this application. That background, our office defers judgment to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sig. Are there any other elected officials or their representatives that would like to
speak? All right, I believe we have a couple people that signed up. Uh Luke is going to go through those names. >> Yep. And uh just a reminder, if you can keep it to two minutes and state your name, address, and uh uh just name and
address. Um first we have Nick Angel. >> Good afternoon, board. I appreciate the time. My name is Nick Agner. I'm a resident uh East Boston Hill and a neighbor of the association. I do believe neighbors did submit letters to
the abutters meeting uh which I understand are received at the same level of importance as attending the meeting. So I do want to note that I believe uh there were messages sent regarding the abutters. I'm here to express my concern about the proposal for two major reasons. One is first
about traffic and parking. As the commissioner stated, it is a very congested area. Uh, and it seems unclear if Chris and the team truly understand how much is foot traffic verse car traffic. And with another expansion of ours, maybe that's something we do need
to understand to under to really get the full impact of the extension of the hours. Chris did mention that many uh customers park around the corner. Any around the corner would be residential streets. Uh so those that do park uh via
drive are parking on residential neighborhoods. The other note I have is that in 2022 when the business requested and received approval from this board to extend their hours, the argument was to be more in line with other cannabis businesses in the city of Boston. From
my research, their current hours are in line with that of other cannabis businesses in the area. So, uh, from a neighborhood perspective, continuing to increase the hours, uh, with congestion and traffic and parking, there is
concern. Uh, the board approved a significant expansion of hours already for this business. Uh, and I would respectfully ask the board to consider whether the objective has already been achieved. Um, and if we do need to provide another extension of ours uh for
this business given the location and the concern regarding the neighborhood, the traffic and the parking situation. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Okay, thank you. Um, and last we have Ben Maize. >> Hey, thank you so much and good
afternoon everybody. Um, my name is Ben Maize. I'm a resident at 39 Princeton Street in East Boston. I guess technically I'm not in a butter because um I didn't receive a notice, but I guess I'm in a butter adjacent. Uh we must fall right outside because we weren't noticed. Um I just want to say
that um uh you know, I'm not a nimi by any means. I actually used to work in the cannabis industry. I'm not opposed to to cannabis by any means, but I do have significant concerns with Birkshire Roots proposal. Um, in addition to what my great neighbor said about traffic
congestion, I would say that um, you know, I would really like the city of Boston to think about what the real public benefit is of providing this cannabis establishment with the ability to have customers buy cannabis at 9 in the morning. There is a public shift um,
and uh, you know, in in support for cannabis legalization. Uh, the New York Times editorial board just changed their position. So, I would really like the city to think about what the public benefit is for allowing people to buy cannabis at 9:00 in the morning. I get
that there's a private benefit for Chris and his investors, but for a public benefit, I'm really struggling to see that. The last thing I just say is that um I do have some concerns with Birkshire Roots as a good neighbor in the neighborhood. Uh Chris, I haven't had the privilege of chatting with you,
but I did speak with one of your staff members a couple months ago about doing a better job of cleaning up trash both outside of the establishment and making sure that your customers aren't dropping cannabis waste around the entire neighborhood. And your staff member
replied to me saying essentially that's not our obligation, including for the sidewalk directly outside of your premises. Um, since I used to work in the industry, I used to I actually looked at Birkshshire Roots cannabis application back in the day and I note that on page six you say the company
agrees to participate in public safety and beautifification initiatives in and around the site. So, the fact that your staff members have done a complete 180 on that is um really disappointing and it makes me >> All right, that was your two minutes.
Um, that's everyone who signed up. Thank you. Um Ben, you can submit I think you've submitted something in writing already, but cannabis board atboston.gov if you want to add any additional comments. Um is there anyone else anyone else that would like to speak on this matter? All right, seeing no one, the board will
take this matter under adisement. Thank you, Chris. >> Thank you. >> Great. We are now going to move to our discussion of our 2026 retail cannabis saturation analysis. Um, just quickly by
way of background, at a hearing in November 2022, the board voted to commission a retail cannabis saturation study focused on the downtown Boston area. That study authored by Community Lead Solutions LLC along with Bo Whitney
who is chief economics of Whitney Economics was accepted by the board in March of 2023. Um at the board's May 28th, 2025 voting hearing, the board voted to commission an updated saturation study broader scope to
include the entire city of Boston through a competitive procurement process. Community Lled Solutions LLC in partnership with Bo Whitney once again engaged in to conduct an updated analysis. The first draft of the updated study was received on November 24th,
2025 and the final draft was received on February 20th, 2026. We are joined by TZ Fitzgerald and Bo Whitney. They will give a brief broad overview of the study and then the board will ask any questions that they have. just
confirming both Whitney and TZ I see you both on the screen. Thank you for joining us. If you both just want to introduce yourself um and then just give us a overview of the study and then the board will ask questions after. >> Hi, I'm Theres Fitzgerald. I'm the CEO
and founder of Community Led Solutions. >> And I'm Bo Whitney, the chief economist at Whitney Economics. >> Bo, do you want to give the overview? >> Yeah, sure. So um we were um commissioned to to take a look at the
saturation and the impact that potential saturation would have on the community. Um we did an analysis an in-depth analysis um associated with this looking at um uh each zip code in the Boston
area. Um, we chose zip codes because there's more standardized data in relation to population and wages and employment and commuter traffic and all sorts of items like that. So, um, we um
based our analysis on a proprietary model called the threshold of economic viability. Um, and what we do with that is we take a look at a lot of the expenses associated with
running a cannabis business, um, retail business, um, such things as labor, product acquisition costs, rent, taxes, um, debt service, um, uh, and, uh, registration fees, bank
accounts, and the like. And we sum that all up to see how much it would take to be viable and sustainable um as a retailer. And then we looked at the
average um um revenue um per le and then tried to determine whether or not that average revenue was above or below that threshold of economic viability. Um, in addition to that, each
neighborhood or each zip code has a different um, uh, level of cost and their cost structure. And so we took a look at that. We looked at the number of licenses associated with it and then
determined how many licenses that area could sustain and then whether or not there was more licenses than could be sustained or less licenses. Um, our initial analysis looked only at the
population of the residents within those zip codes, but it was rightly pointed out that there's a lot of commuter traffic that comes into the Boston area. And so we looked at those commuter traffic patterns um by volume and then
um adjusted uh how many businesses were required to sustain not only the local demand but the commuter demand as well. What our findings said was that um initially we thought that there was
just about enough licenses um already issued in order to um with you know to to avoid saturation. But once we commit um once we looked at the commuter traffic, we determined that there's
actually more businesses that could be sustained um as a result of that increase in demand. We also looked at tourist demand, by the way. And so, um, we're here just to, you know, we provided the summary. We wanted to see if there were any questions about the
analysis, um, that we could, um, answer. Um, if we can't answer them now, then of course we'll answer them um, you know, as quickly as we can after this meeting. >> Thank you, Bo. Um, Tres, anything you wanted to add or that covered it?
Um I think he I think he covered it. Um you know if there are any other thoughts that people have around you know I how we could use data like this to to really help folks who are um not only have
opened up um dispensaries but also are thinking about opening them where you know we're really interested in helping with the equity piece around um technical assistance and things like that. So, um I think that's important to, you know, kind of go beyond the the
economics of this and make sure that the folks who are um the small business, particularly the small business owners that have the resources and things they need, um to to be running smoothly economically, and I think Bo has done some of that work out um in different
states across the the country. So, that's something that we just kind of want to put out there as that's something that's important to us. >> Yeah, and that's a good point. It's it's not necessarily intended to be a hard and fast rule that says it's, you know,
it's 16 and not 17 um or 15 and not 16. Um what we're trying to convey is that there's a each business is different here. Um each business has a different cost structure, but if things are
getting close, then it opens up um questions to be asked not only by the regulators, but by the retailer and operators themselves. Um and I think that this would be a good educational tool and we're happy to train personnel
on the um development of this process and the like. Um, but it's a good educational tool for those that want to um, apply for a license so that they can understand just how much it costs in order to run the business on a
sustainable basis. >> Thank you both. Um, we'll start with Tria Joyce if you have any questions. >> I do. Um, my questions aren't like necessarily in a particular order, so I I might jump back in after some of the
other commissioners have questions, but am I correct that the TEV, which I was hoping you could explain to us a little bit more, is primarily an economic metric estimating market demand and revenue potential.
Yes, it not only looks at the the uh it not only calculates the cost of running the business but then also looks at given the population and the value of spends per consumer, how much that um
zip code is worth in terms of revenue. Um, and what I do is I look at the total value of that zip code and then divide it by the the average revenue from the TB, the threshold of economic viability,
and then that will determine how many licenses that area can sustain. >> Okay. But given that it's that economic metric, it really doesn't take into account neighborhood impacts, right? >> That's correct. We looked at this purely
from a how many um how many licenses can the the neighborhood sustain from a from a revenue and um you know profit and loss perspective. We didn't look at the the social impacts or the neighborhood impacts.
>> Okay. Um, and then after you did the zip code study, um, you went back and added other impacts such as visitor population. Um, so how does the study account for that?
There are significant areas in Boston as a whole, such as downtown, the seapport. Um, I'd say like areas near hotels where the consumer base is way beyond resident population. It takes into account
um commuters, tourists um and however else you define visitors. So, can you um talk about how you accounted for that in those busy areas versus what you did in other outlying areas? >> Yeah, so thank you. That's a good
question and it was something that was rightly pointed out to us um in the feedback based upon our initial draft. So initially we just looked at the local population. Um and then the question was asked well what about uh oh and we also
incorporated tourism. Um so there's certain tourist areas that um they visit and so there's a you know they'll stay there you know in a hotel for a certain number of nights etc etc. We accounted for that but the um the thing that we
didn't account for originally was the commuter traffic. And so there's actually some pretty good data out there on um how much um commuter traffic there is by zip code within the Boston area. And so we use that to assess what that
demand would look like and then how much that demand represented and then how many licenses could be sustained through that. And would it be fair to say your study doesn't establish a ceiling on the number of licenses should be would be appropriate in
Boston? >> Oh, no. It it's it it um says that explicitly. There's a certain level that um that if there was a 100% Well, we also base this on legal
participation rates. So, how many um consumers are already participating in the legal um regulated market and then how much of the illicit market is still being supported. Um and so we looked at what happens if there was 100% legal
participation. So all the consumers that wanted it purchased it, purchased cannabis products within their um the regulated system. And that was the that was the maximum number of licenses that the area could support. And so we looked
at that um by zip code and then by um Boston general. Okay. And um my last question and I'll let the other commissioners weigh in. We might have more questions, but I want to talk a little bit about um previously
licensed locations and what your study clarifies about how we should treat those um locations. >> So, what we looked at is the number of licenses that were already in operation. We took a look at that initially and
then we said, is there um too much saturation or not enough? And then we extended that off um out to the number of licenses that not only are operating but have been authorized already. Um and
so we did that saturation analysis on that as well. >> Okay. One more question if you don't mind. Um did your study I think this is what you were saying. Did your study distinguish between open and operating establishments and those that are in the pipeline? >> Yes. Yes, it did.
>> Okay. Um, I will hit pause. I have a lot more questions, but I will uh turn it over to Jasmine to get it along. >> Um, Commissioner Gandhi, do you have any questions? >> Yes. Um, thank you so much uh for the
report. It was um really great um to to to read uh the report and I think uh commission uh chairwoman Joyce's comment about this being a predominantly revenue and P&L perspective report is is a really really good one and kind of how
it looks at other impacts of uh of of cannabis locations is something that we should all keep in mind. Um so I think that the TEV analysis that you've done um you know was I think is very robust and super helpful. So, one of the uh you know themes of the questions I've been
asking a lot of folks who have appeared in front of our commission is or our board is how how do you um ensure that the business that they're applying for if it's a new license or an amendment um to a location or um or or or hours of
operation is this actually going to help keep a sustainable business? And so I think the numbers you've kind of shared in the in the report, uh, Boston is an expensive place to do business. Um, and you know, the the the TEV is is um is something that I think everyone should
be taking into account um when they're looking at uh opening up a business here. The last thing that we would want to do is have businesses open up and then they find themselves in trouble because they haven't done, you know, the the right analysis. So your your comments about you know offering to use
uh you know to use this this analysis as a way to help businesses really succeed I think is a really really super appreciated. Um I I I the the question I have is um on existing businesses that
um are in markets that um the study has identified you know maybe there may be too many locations or too few locations. Um are there any proposals or suggestions that uh this report would have on how
existing businesses can improve their their operations to ensure that they u they meet their TEV um and and I would like be interested to hear your comments about that.
Well, um we do suggest that the the lences understand their cost structure and understand their bottom line and how much they need in order to remain profitable and sustainable. um in too
many states that I've analyzed. I'm um based here in Oregon. Um way too many licenses have been issued oversaturation and now those that are in existence are losing money and failing. And so the
intention of the of the threshold of economic vi viability model is to make sure that they don't get in that position because if we're say we're looking at a social equity applicant, um they're already going to have challenges
just getting into business from a financial perspective, getting um finances arranged and the like. Um and so the last thing that we would want is to set them up for failure. Um I think in terms of
um how can they look at um how can existing businesses understand their models better and understand their operations and improve them. Um I think where this is beneficial is that they can look at the number of or the costs
of each little segment associated with it from a product um acquisition perspective. a federal taxation, which is a large uh cost, labor, which those are the three biggest costs for a retailer, but then also their rent and
their um licensing fees and their and their um uh cost, their debt um support, debt service. um they um they can look at that and compare themselves relative to the model and see where they can look
to reduce costs in order to improve their margins. Um and so that's one benefit that this model can have, this tool can have for existing operators. Um the and one thing to note is is that a
lot of times where these um operators get into problems is with the high cost of capital. And so if their debt structure is out of line with what they can uh sustainably support, then they
can ask questions even before taking on those loans. Um and that's really really critical. Um the other thing is is that this um is intended on being refreshed on a fairly regular basis at least annually because what's occurring right
now in the United States is that there's pricing compression and so when there's pricing compression the average revenue per le is getting less and less and less and so the last thing that we want is to have that approach this threshold of viability
when a previous 2 years or threeyear analysis prior would show that they're okay. And so it's it's important that they keep in mind this uh pricing compression because when there's an increase in labor, when there's an increase in debt service due to risk and
there's reduced pricing, then there's a margin squeeze there and that puts the businesses in economic distress. >> That's that's super helpful. Thank you. Um couldn't agree with you more. The the other question I have is on the u the
the influx of commuters, the 180,000 commuters daily. Um was that an average over the year over the calendar year? Um just kind of want to understand the seasonal impact of those numbers um and kind of how that was was carried through the calendar.
>> Yeah, we didn't adjust for seasonality on the commuter traffic. Um and um that's something that we can take a you know further look at. Um um so but what we did is we did annualize that you know
cuz this is really basically 5 days worth of traffic and so that doesn't mean that there's going to be 7 days worth of demand. And so we tried to annualize that um so that we could make sure that we were talking, you know, apples to apples, consumer to consumer,
you know, um in this analysis and not overstate the demand. We actually took a pretty conservative approach um to calculating the demand. Um but like I said, this is a living model and so we're constantly looking at the various
factors that go into this. >> Yeah. The reason I asked that question is um you know a lot of these some of these businesses may a few months here or there a few bad months might make a really really big difference in the winters that we have in Boston. Um and you know I'd like to kind of see if
there's any impact whatsoever. I appreciate that you took a conservative uh view on the number of commuters, but I think um you know it would be interesting to see if there's any impact um outside of the conservative approach um that that kind of makes or breaks a
business that um you know cannot rely on a kind of annualized uh numbers. So that that might be interesting, but I I kind of I'm I do want to kind of see if that's that makes a difference or not. There was some discussions that we had
about following up with surveys to um uh to existing operators um and looking at other impacts associated with this. Um but for now um we didn't we collectively
decided that that would incur additional costs and we didn't necessarily want to um you know put that onto you know your um budgets and and so as a result we we kept it pretty um high level. Um but
we're more than happy to go in and um and u do surveys and and different analysis to get greater granularity because you know the cost may be the rent may be a little bit high for example in one zip code versus another
in our estimates and and like so there's areas that we could uh refine this and touch it up. >> Yeah, that's super helpful. Um, and I think the only the the last question I would have is um on um
>> No, actually I don't have any more questions at this time. Thank you. >> Good questions, by the way. Thank you, >> Commissioner Smith. Do you have any questions? >> Thank you, Jasmine, and thank you all for this report. Um, I cannot say that
I've given it the most in-depth look, but I have looked at it and just thinking about some of the things that sort of stood out to me. So, for instance, I live in 02124 at Dorchester Center. You talked about rising operational cost and including rent and
wages um combined with declining prices threaten retailer viability, but then you also talked about the impact of tourism and all that. Dorchester Center is not a huge tourism there's not a lot going on there in terms of tourism.
How do we how are we thinking about that in a sense that that would have an impact? So, is that something we should think about and think about pausing new licenses there? What would be your recommendations? >> Um I'm just looking up at our model. Um
um >> that's where I Bo that's where I live as well. >> Yeah. Just a center. >> Yeah. So, we we looked at the commuter traffic and um how many people are employed in that
area versus how many residents versus how many of you know um and you're right. So, we've accounted for that commuter traffic because if there's not a whole lot, then there wouldn't be a whole lot of influence on the on the overall model. um it's really in the
areas like the downtown or um near Fenway or what have you where there's a lot of additional tourism and and traffic. So we've been we've for the most part accounted for it um in your neighborhood. >> What do you think the impact and not
that you measured this but just thinking about the work you've done social consumption will be? Um well, I think that there's um in from my experience, I think that's
the next wave of of areas for reform. Um because cannabis is very much a social drug >> and so people want to use it socially, but they don't have any place to do so.
um you're starting to see that open up a little bit through the um consumption of cannabis THC beverages, either hemp drive or THC um marijuana drive. And so that's bringing a social element to the to the community. Um but there's an
opportunity here um for social consumption. Um Whitney Economics has just partnered with um Applegarth Intelligence. Brian Applegarth is principal there. And what we're looking at is the experience economy and then
making recommendations on Canada tourism, wellness tourism and just experiential um economics in in general. And so this is an area of of future study for sure. Um now I've done a lot
of speaking and analysis of the European market and the African market, South American market, etc. And it seems like the social element of cannabis in Europe, especially in Spain and and Netherlands is pretty famous for it. Um,
they started with social and then transitioned into the into the more brick andmortar type of things with stores and the like, whereas in the United States, um, that's the last part that is being added into it. But I think that there's um definite economic
opportunity um in this in the social consumption space. Um and I think that's the next um area of reform in the in the industry. >> So much so that so much so that um setting up an entire division for just
this economics. >> So I appreciate your feedback. Thanks. So, I just wanted to say one other thing that might not come up as a question, but um Bo, I don't know if you can speak about the work you've done on bankruptcy
out in other parts of the country. Just to kind of note that because again, Bo and I, you know, talked a lot about wanting to make sure that with smaller businesses, particularly um those from u marginalized groups
that, you know, we're talking about that piece of this. And that's why this is I know that the city wants to make sure that they're looking at that um from an equity standpoint. >> Yeah. And we've looked at such issues as
um saturation and the you know average revenue that you need in order to or the minimum revenue that you need in order to be sustainable. But we've also looked at such things as um accounts receivable delinquencies and the impact that that
has. Um but what we're seeing in general is that there's been uh an issue of of u delinquent payments in this space um and it tends to hit more on the um
cultivation and processing side >> um more so than on the retail side. Um and so that's something to be aware of. Um and then also with this saturation um you know that really sets up for
business failure um sets up the envir um the industry for um business and for to put this in perspective um in 2024 if I recall correctly there were roughly 7500 businesses or licenses
nationally that were um reduced and some of it was in cultivation, but there was also retailers and uh product manufacturers that gave up their licenses. Um, and this had a huge
impact. I think it was $6.7 billion in lost personal wealth. And so this is why this is so I'm so passionate about this is because if you set people up for failure in this environment given the federal illegality then you don't have
bankruptcy protection and you you don't have an opportunity to get a bridge loan due to finance issues. And so when you lose your business in this industry then you have to have a personal guarantee to get a loan. And so you may not only lose your business but your house or your
farm or what have you. So um saturation is something that we take very very seriously and try to uh provide the best data that we can to different regulators around the around the country. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you Commissioner Kinsley. You have
any questions? >> Yeah, thank you Jasmine. Um, so I was I want to thank you for the study. Um, I thought it was very um helpful kind of really uh had a lot of good information there. I was kind of I was definitely struck by just the the impact that
considering more of the um like weekday commuter as as potential customer base really kind of changed the way some of the potential like limits were calculated. But I I did notice that
um you know, even if you look into specific neighborhoods and you have, you know, fewer that seem like they're at their cap and a lot more that seem to have significant room when you factor in the
commuter base. Um it the overall recommendation of the paper was still that um there should be maybe just like a potential pause or just a lot more care given to any new licenses issued. So, I was wondering if you could talk
about that a little bit more if it's just kind of like being extra conservative as you had discussed. Um, and just kind of like what what space would there be to allow more of those licenses in some of these targeted neighborhoods and would it have any like
spillover effects in neighborhoods kind of close to it that might not be impacted by the commuter traffic as much? >> Yeah, that's a great question. um um you know we made our recommendations um
in such a way that we said you know this is a model um it's by no means perfect but it's it's reasonable and it is intended to um serve as a basis to ask questions to your lences
and to your applicants and so if you interview your potential lency and say, "Have you considered this or did you realize that um that you need a certain amount of revenue in order to sustain
your business?" Then it can get them thinking about um what it takes and how to achieve that level of revenue. Um so for example um if there's an area that has a high level of commuter traffic or a high
level of tourism you could say hey what is your um what is your strategy for capturing that demand rather than just the local demand. Um it's it's questions like that that can really help um support the businesses themselves and
avoid the costly mistake of of um you know going out of business or or getting too far out over their skis economically. Did that answer your question? Oh, the spillover effect also um you
know we've done um prior to this uh analysis we did a Whitney Economics teamed up with Leafly in order to do a what we called an opt-in opt out report and um basically we analyze um commuter
traffic and and consumer behavior and so consumers will travel a certain radius in order to acquire cannabis products. Um just as long as that um distance is not too far. Um it's like 30 minutes to
45 minutes. Now, that may not necessarily impact um commuter traffic cuz they're going to be there during the week and and they're going to make their purchases um in that area, but it does um impact the spillover effect. So if
say for example there's a high concentration of retailers in one zip code um that may not necessarily impact other neighborhoods adjacent to that because of the time it takes to go from one neighborhood to the next to the
next. And so we did consider that. But that's another one of those questions that um you know that we can help address you know in the future if we're required to. Okay. And so do you like in some of
those like specific targeted ones, um, is it like you're you're not necessarily taking a firm position on whether it could like it could actually sustain the amount of licenses like indicated in the charts and it might just be something that kind of depends on some other
factors that we have to consider as well. No, it's if if the numbers um of licenses conveyed is below the threshold, below those limits, then they can be sustained. Um so we're confident about
that. It's just once you start getting closer and closer and closer to that level of of viability, that revenue threshold, then that's where you have to start asking questions, you know, to your lences, to your applicants, saying,
"Hey, you know, this is it." Whereas before it might have been a good uh margin business, things are getting tighter either due to increased demand or pricing compression. And so have you thought this through and understand the nature of your business um even before
going in um into business or uh consummating your the license acquisition. >> So the like the saturation numbers in the chart are kind of based on the TEV being sort of fixed but then as there are more in there and as the prices
continue to fall kind of statewide then that'll impact the TE. So that might even change the number of dispensaries that could be sustained in each individual neighborhood. >> No, the TV teev would would be um pretty fixed. It it's really dependent upon
labor costs and and product acquisition costs and the like. It's more the average revenue that >> so if you have a you know four um licenses and the average revenue you know or whatever it's a million dollar
market and that's $ 250 a thousand each, right? If that starts getting too close to that threshold then that's when you have to start asking questions. But the the threshold of economic viability should remain pretty consistent um over
time. We just we're proposing that it be adjusted on an annual basis to take into consideration labor inflation, uh rental inflation, um perhaps interest rates if they're going up or going down, stuff like that.
Right? So, the real um basic elements of how to how much it costs to run a business. >> All right. I think that's all I have for now, but thank thank you very much for uh conducting this. >> Yeah, of course.
>> Any additional questions from the board? >> No. All right. Thank you both for conducting the study. Um we really appreciate it. >> Yeah. And this isn't a one-off. I mean, if you have any further follow-up questions or anything, feel free to reach out to us. Um, we're happy to support. Um, if there's something that
you think about tomorrow when you're having cup of coffee or something in the morning, then, you know, just let us know. We're we're here to to support you guys. Yeah, we really we really believe in the equity mission and you know we know it's a very unique situation where you have very large um companies and
then we you know the smaller companies and we you know we have had conversations with each other about you know some kind of a checklist or something that people can think about when they start you know opening these business especially if they don't have a um a a business background and things
like that. So, um those are the kind of things we're thinking about um on our end, but feel free to contact us and we even though it's says the final report. >> And I think the one other thing I would say sort of in the future is it's a I know it's hard when you put out you know these requests for proposals and things
like that. But um you know maybe even you know in in meetings like this kind of getting together and figuring out like what are some of these you know key questions now that you have this report that maybe that we didn't answer or you know different ways that we can um you
know kind of answer these questions because we're you know we're just going off of the um the proposal. But we're, you know, we're open to doing, you know, other um other work um to answer some of these other questions that you've brought up. So, just let us know.
>> Thank you so much. >> Thanks. >> Um and with that, the board will take this under adisement. Um so, moving on to our final matter. Um due to a couple of absences in a recuso caraf Massachusetts, Inc. doing business as
Carol leaf will be moved to the beginning of our voting meeting next Wednesday. Um at that time we will have quum in order to hear the update that they will provide and provide a vote. So again curly will be heard next Wednesday March 25th at the beginning of our
voting hearing. All right. So those were all the matters before the board today. The board's voting meeting will take place next Wednesday, March 25th, at 1 p.m. Again, the record will be kept open until Monday, March 23rd at 5 p.m. Thank you all for attending and enjoy the rest of
your day. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jasmine.