We're just going to give it a second to let the waiting room clear. Please make sure you're muted as you enter. All right, we're going to get started. Um, good afternoon. This is a hearing before the Boston Cannabis Board, the BCB. Today is June 11th, 2025. 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 posted to the city of Boston's website. Before I review some procedural matters, I will introduce Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce. Thank you,
Jasmine. Good um afternoon. My name is Kathleen Joyce. I'm chair of the Boston Cannabis Board. Today I'm pleased to be joined by Commissioner John Smith, Commissioner Lisa Holmes, Commissioner Jack Hensley, Commissioner Sonel Gandhi, and Commissioner Ramon Sodto. Thank you, Chairwoman Joyce. My name is
Jasmine Wyn and I am the Boston Cannabis Board Manager. We are also joined by Luke Santos, who is our cannabis licensing specialist. I will begin by calling each item in the order they appear on the agenda. Today, we have one amendment to an already approved license and one new license application. The
amendment application will have five minutes to present to the BCB followed by questions and comments from the board members. We will then move to our new license application. The new license application will have 10 minutes to present to the BCB followed by questions and comments from the board members. We will then take public testimony
beginning with elected officials or their representatives followed by general public. If you wish to testify, please sign up via the link that we put in the chat. If you already signed up, you don't 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 any testimony. It will not be considered. Please state your full name, address, and affiliation, if any, when given testimony, which will be limited to 2 minutes. Additional testimony may be
submitted in writing to cannabis board at boston.gov. The record will be kept open until Monday, June 16th at 5:00 PM. The BCB does not give any more weight to spoken testimony than it does written testimony. Um, after our transactional matters, we will move to our
reconsideration item, and I'll explain more when we get there. Um, so the first item we have is New Dia Fenway LLC. The license is 4862 Brooklyn Avenue in Finnway, Kenmore area. The license type is a marijuana
retailer and their request is to amend the license to allow for delivery of recreational cannabis through a third party delivery. Um who is present on behalf of Nudia? Uh myself Ross Bradshaw and then we have uh Kyle Chambers a director of operations.
Um you have five minutes to give a brief presentation to the board. Yes, we we did share a presentation. Um would it be easier for me to share or for you? Uh are you able to see my screen? Yes. Um so uh we have been operating for come
July will be two years now in the FEMA um community specifically on Lands Down Street. Um with our retail operations uh what we're proposing is to add uh delivery or courier operations. So, as many of you guys are familiar, it's a
specific license that's granted to SE operations or social equity or black or womanowned enterprises. And we would like to partner with organization by the name of Safe Light LLC. Um, they would be handling all the delivery of the actual product from Nudia, but Nudia
essentially would be conducting all the um sales and transactions as we would any of our normal retail operations. Um, so we were proposing delivery from 10:00 a.m. or the ability to deliver from 10:00 a.m. to 1000 p.m.
Um, in terms of uh how this would work logistically. So, as you guys are familiar, you know, the Femway areas uh at times can be a complex area to navigate traffic-wise. Um, however, I would say my team is over the last two years, we've we've come very experienced
and familiar with the neighborhood. Um, just this past month alone, we had a number of issues that have that shut down the street that, you know, quite honestly, we've uh had a great relationship with the folks in the Fenway community. And it's really just a team effort working with the businesses,
working with the Red Sox with any um hiccups that might have traffic-wise. And, you know, for instance, this past month, we had a number of concerts that were cancelled, which forced some of the streets to be shut down. And so, going into this, we're very aware of those um factors. And you know, it's one of the
things that actually we're fortunate enough within our POSOS and with our operations that when we have to cease delivery, it will be inconvenient to some of the folks, but that's going to be what we'll have to do. Um, happy to dive into that more with any additional questions. Um, and outside of that, um,
the way delivery our delivery operations would work, um, very similar, if not exactly the same, to a lot of the other delivery operators in the city of Boston. Um, every individual who orders will have uh specific IDs checks to ensure they're 21 years of age. Um,
delivery agents will be um required to wear body cameras and there'll be no sales to any colleges um government funding housing um and I believe those are the only restrictions. And then of course all the vehicles will be unmarked and we securely equipped and inspected
annually from the CCC. Um, that is all that I have for presentation. So, I'm happy to turn it back over to you. Thank you. We will move to questions, comments from the board, beginning with chairman.
Thank you, Jasmine. Can you expand upon your relationship with Safe Light? I you're there's a letter that says they're a subcontractor. So, how do you what like who's responsible for um security and
and safety if they're a subcontractor? But so, the sale comes from you. Is that how it works? And then is it their security or your security? Correct. So, it's uh referred to as a courier model. The best way to describe it is almost as an Uber Eatsu if you
would or Door Dash where uh Nudia would essentially be let's say we're Chipotle, right? We are the retail operator. individuals go to our website, they they they purchase or they they make their order and then we have a third party, in this case, Safelight, that would operate almost as an Uber where they would
actually facilitate um the delivery of the last mile, if you would, from our door to their door. So, security from that standpoint after it leaves our build or our building would be the responsibility of Safe Light. Okay. And have you done any modeling as
far as um how many sales you expect to have or or that Safe Light will be um delivering in a day or on like on a weekend? Do you have any about that? In terms of market
demand, we don't know. But we do know we do have a limitation which is the fact that we have one vehicle. Um, and what we've been told and what logistically makes sense. If we were to be successful or even if it was to be, you know, operate at maximum capacity, that would allow no more than 20 deliveries, 25
deliveries a day. That's a best case scenario with one vehicle. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, I don't think I have any more questions right now. Thank you. Commissioner Holmes, do you have any questions? Uh, yeah. Who is
the current Safe Life? Are they licensed through the BCB? They are not. So, Safelight is a social equity operator um that has a courier license. So, they have a host community agreement um with the city of or the
town, I'm not sure which one of Holio. Um so, our understanding is that because we are the lency and operator and they're a contractor um that this is a license amendment and not necessarily a new license. That could be Jasmine if you could clarify. Right. Yeah. So he's
correct. So because they're partnering with a third party delivery, the retailer has to get permission from the BCB to have that partnership. So he's he's basically here amending his license to ask for permission to partner
with Safe Life to do their delivery. So they're not applying for their own delivery license. They're partnering with the third party do it. Okay. And what do we since they're licensed in Holio, what do we in Boston have to
ensure that they have do they have to provide us with anything to prove that they have everything in order? Yep. So every delivery agreement that Nudia has moving forward, they have to give us a copy of the courier's CCTC license,
their delivery agreement, and um a copy of their host community agreement with the town that they are part of. So that's how we keep track of who's doing delivery, doing what. Okay, that was all I had. And my question for Nudia is what
has what new what has come up that has made you figure out that you know you're going this delivery is pertinent to your business? Have you had
me right around the corner? Sorry, someone unmuted. I know somebody cut off. Yeah. Did he hear me? Did he get me? Uh yeah, I guess what what's pertinent? Um well I guess for one we always wanted to get our legs under us in terms of our operation ensuring that you know we we're running a sound
business. Um I think for that what we've also seen is you know this is the evolution of what's happening with retail right more and more folks whether it's Amazon, Door Dash, Uber is more and more folks are gravitating towards um home delivery and obviously with uh the
demographics in Boston seem to get younger and younger or actually it's probably getting older and older every year. um it seems like uh it's a no-brainer for us and just also the close pro proximity to um you know the brain al area that it made sense for our business and kind of the growth that
we're seeing and that's a good I'm glad you're and so what you're not just planning on delivering just to the Fenway area because you just said Austin Brighton so you're planning on being able to deliver across the city. Yeah, with this more so than anything,
definitely a walk uh crawl, walk run type of scenario where we once again we don't know exactly what the market demand is out there. Um so it's going to be one of those things where we have one vehicle um one courier that we're working with and we'll we'll take it one step at a time. I got it. Okay. And when
you I'm just I know I'm asking a zillian question, something I should have been doing. Um um government buildings would that include like housing developments, senior citizen some senior citizen buildings government
and I I'm know that a lot of seniors are turning to cannabis for for medical relief and for certain things. So um would that affect delivering to them if needed? Yes. And this is where it is a
little bit vague based on the CCC um uh regulations. Um I believe however there is spe there there is a specific map we would have um access to that would show those locations or those addresses that we can actually put into a system. It would populate whether or not they
receive any type of um specific government funding. Um reason why being is that cannabis is federally legal. So obviously they don't want addresses. They don't want on the property. Right. No, I get that. I get that. And that's that that's a good Okay. So your your system will populate whether or not
that's a place you can actually deliver to. Correct. And then the other element I should mention too is hotels is also a no no as well. A no no. Yep. And so those addresses will automatically flag or or something when they come into your
system. Correct. Okay. Um thank you. I think that's all I got for now. Thank you. Okay, Commissioner Smith. Thanks, Jasmine. No, I don't have any questions. Commissioner Galdi, no questions. Thanks, Jasmine.
Commissioner Sto. Uh, yeah. Um, and I apologize if I miss this in the materials, but um I I I did see the point um that you made u Mr. brush uh your teammate about the
potential for delivery actually um uh decreasing the number of cars on the road but but my question is about more about the concern I think and and I don't know if the community has raised this about double parking u because when I hear like Ubers and folks who are
coming to get the food especially in the Fenway area you know I I I I go through there I live in high park so I go through there quite often and cutting from, you know, downtown trying to find a a quicker way and folks are double parked and it's it's tough. So, I think
that is a legitimate concern. I'm just wondering how you would um sort of uh um maintain a you know a a good you know routine with your with your folks seeing as they're not employees, right? And so these are folks who are kind of coming
on um you know obviously they have their CC they have to have their their CCC stuff but that doesn't mean they're not going to double park because they're trying to get three deliveries real quick and run out. So I guess that's a concern that I'm wondering like to what degree have you thought that through and and what um actions you might take in
order to to secure you know that the lanes uh bike lanes and everything are are free of um of a car that's double parked. Yep. 100. So, if I understand correctly, you're referring to our staff, not necessarily uh customers or patrons that are visiting. Um the safe
life uh drivers uh driver. Yeah. Yep. So, it's going to be one vehicle and we do in same way that we do deliveries now. So, um when I say we do deliveries now, uh as a retailer, we receive wholesale products um from deliveries. So, in any given day, we could have four, five, six deliveries of u
wholesalers delivering us products that we we then sell to our customers. So, this would be similar to that where we have a a specific section um an alleyway if you would where it's off the street, out of sight, it's secured um where we're able to fulfill these deliveries. So, and it would operate along those
same um that same process where it's out of sight and not a nuisance to any of the um the vehicles and and you're 100% right. I mean, during the day, one of the biggest issues that we we tend to have is um a lot of those vehicles carrying the alcohol, right? That are constantly replenishing the bars and
whatnot. and we've done a great job with navigating them with our current delivery operations. And so I don't view this as being um you know a major stumbling block or any anything that's going to add to any additional um headaches to the community. that that that's um helpful I guess and maybe I'll
I'm going to do like a little bit more surgical of a question but for a driver who doesn't know right they show up they got an order through to new deal they got to come and pick up you know three you know a a pre-roll uh pack of thing
and something and then they're off to um in my mind they're off to then uh Tasty Burger to pick up a few burgers and then they're off to somewhere else to then go make their drops, right? And so, how does that driver know to pull in that
alley or or or am I or am I or are they solely going to be picking up your order and dropping it? Correct. Solely picking up our order. So, when I equated to the um Uber Eats, it's similar to Uber Eats, but the difference being is that the
individual will they'll be very they'll be familiar. They'll be approved by Nudia. They'll go through training. It's not gonna be a random person who is not familiar with our location, our facility, our security. Um, they'll be embedded into our operations and the where it's individual that's actually
badged by Safe Light and Nudia. Got you. Thank you. That's the answer I was looking for. Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Um, does this Safe Life company have like similar contracts with other dispensaries that operate in Boston?
Not at the moment. Okay. And so these these drivers will pretty much just be assigned to making deliveries for New Dia. They won't be like going back and forth between New Dia and other dispensaries in other cities and towns nearby like on the same on the same
shift. Not that um No, no, they wouldn't be. Okay. Um and then is the is the plan for them to like try to take multiple deliveries out at the same time or would they be just be doing one delivery at a time? Yep. So, um, once again, it really
comes down to demand, which, you know, we we'll we'll find out. But ideally, what we'd like to do is have blocks of windows, and that's what a lot of delivery operators do now is know they get a block of window between, you know, noon and 2. If if the delivery comes in before 10:00 a.m., they'll they'll
deliver during that block. And so, I think that's probably the most efficient way to operate. And that's ideally how we'd like to operate. Okay. And so but but they're and these drivers are employees of Safe Life, not of Nudia directly, even though they have to get the like license through you too. They
they could be what they refer to as dual badged meaning if we have someone on our team. Um for instance, we have a great inventory team that is very competent. They understand a lot of the regulations. Um if they they have opportunity to go out and delivery, they could be dual badged with safe light. That actually might provide you know
more synergy between us and safe light. That is an option of something. Okay. So that and that sort of answers my next question then. But so when there is like idle time if they're waiting for one of the delivery blocks to go out,
would the driver then be like inside the dispensary helping pack the orders or would they just be sitting in the van out in the alleyway like waiting for everything to be packed up so they could leave? Yep. So 100% they'd be in the facility and that's why it makes sense to have that dual badge where they can be doing other activities um during
their shift. Um but in no scenario would we just have someone you know lingering around in the the alleyway. Okay. And so would would the compensation for that time come from Nudia directly or Safe Life or would they have to like punch out from Nudia and punch into Safe Life or how is that arrangement sort of being
worked out? Yep 100%. So when they are in the vehicle, they are a Safe Life employee on safe lifetime. Um if they were to be in our facility packing orders um doing dispatch and they would be a Nudia employee. And how would that impact like potential overtime acrruel?
If they work say like 25 hours for Nudia and 20 hours for Safe Life, does that mean that they wouldn't be eligible for overtime for either of them even though they're working over the 40 hours? That's a good question. I don't know the answer to that, but we use uh we use a
system called time code where people they actually go in, they put their finger their fingerprint in and it actually timestamps their their clocking in and out. Um I'd have to get more clarification on that because I would view it almost as someone having two different jobs so they wouldn't qualify for overtime if they're two different
companies. Um it's no different someone went to go work at, you know, for Chipotle again and then they went to go work for, you know, McDonald's. I don't know if they would qualify for overtime under those scen that scenario. Um, so it's a good question. I I don't know the answer to that. And the but the way you're envisioning it is that even if
they're helping out in the the in your dispensary first, they would like punch out from New Dia and then punch in in order to get into the van and make deliveries that way. Correct. And they would need to just for the for the badging as well so that for the CCC they're aware of where that badge where
that employee is located and who they're operating for at that point in time, god forbid something were to happen. Okay. Um and then you mentioned kind of planning around the operating hours for uh Fenway when there are Red Sox games and you kind of talked a little bit
about concerts because obviously there's you know Fenway, MGM, House of Blues, multiple concert venues in the area. How do you plan on kind of working around that time? Are there any concerts or events where you had planned on just shutting down the delivery hours altogether? Or is it each one you just
kind of like try to get an individualized sense of what the traffic impacts were going to be and you might close down for some or have limited hours for some and some you might try to operate through? Yeah. So, um what typically happens mostly um in most most cases, one we have the Red Sox schedule
which is great because we're able to plan out ahead. Um, so that's going to be helpful in regards to the concerts. Um, each week we receive emails from uh operators of the House of Blues and then MGM that actually tells us the con concerts are happening in the neighborhood. Um, they tell us the
number of attendees and then we get another email from the Red Sox that actually tell of tell us of anything that's going on in the neighborhood and that pretty much gives us a good indication of of um the week ahead and what we should expect. Um, and so that's how we operate our business now with our current deliveries of wholesalers. And
so it really most likely every single week it's going to be up to us to keep an eye on those changes in the the neighborhood. And then if for instance if we can't deliver um there's a function within our POSOS where we can simply just turn off delivery. And yes it would be an inconvenience to some of
the consumers but that's going to have to just be the nature of how we operate. So do you have a sense of what that threshold would would be where like over a certain amount of attendees you would need to just shut down altogether? Yeah. for a concert. Uh, as long as the street
on Landown's open, I don't anticipate us having to shut down. Um, really just the load in, the load out, and typically they do that during the off hours, meaning the dead of the night. Okay. All right. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Yeah. Any other follow-up
questions from the board? All right. We'll move to public testimony beginning with elected officials or their representatives. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and board members. Sigy Johnson with the mayor's office of neighborhood services. This petitioner completed the ONS community process. Our office hosted hosted an
abutters meeting on June 2nd which was properly noticed at which no concerns were raised. The Fenway Civic Association has written a letter in support of this amendment which is in the board's possession. With that background, we defer judgment to the board. Thank you. Thank you. Sam from Councel Derkens
office. Good afternoon everyone, commissioners, members of the board. This is Sam Courage from councelor Derkin's office. The councelor would like to go in support of the sub amended proposal for the dispensary and appreciates your time. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other elected
officials or their representatives that would like to speak? And I don't see anyone that's signed up to testify. Would anyone else like to provide testimony on this matter? All right. Seeing no one, the board will take this matter under adisement.
We will now move to our new license application. The applicant is Legal Greens Boston LLC doing business as Legal Greens. The proposed license premises 571B Washington Street in Dorchester. They are applying for a marijuana carrier and delivery operator
license. The proposed hours of operation are 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 7 days a week. This is an equity applicant. They filed their application on February 28th, 2025. They filed with inspectional services on September 19th, 2024 and they held their community meeting on
April 8th, 2025. Before we hear the presentation, I will ask Shakia Scott to read the equity certification in the into the record. Thank you, Jasmine. Um, good afternoon everyone. Our office was able to certify Legal Greens Boston LLC
or Legal Greens as an equity applicant through the documentation submitted by the applicant, Vanessa Gene Baptist. Miss Gene Baptist is the president, CEO, and 51 beneficial 51% beneficial interest holder of Legal Greens, meeting the 51% ownership interest threshold set
forth in the ordinance. Uh, Miss Gene Baptiste meets the following criteria. A person who has resided in an area of disproportionate impact as defined by the Cannabis Control Commission or CCC for at least five of the past 10 years. She submitted bank statements
establishing Boston residency, copies of her um expired and most recent licenses and other um uh uh billing statements to prove residency in both Brockton and Randolph. Um and both Brockton and Randolph have been designated as areas
of disproportionate impact per CCC guidelines. She also meets a person who is of black, African-American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, or indigenous descent. She selfidentifies as black and of Haitian descent and provided her driver's license and birth certificate. And lastly, a person whose annual
household income is at or below 100% of the area median income. Um she submitted a notorized letter from a certified CPA um confirming her household income, which does fall below um 100% of the
area median income for Brockton. Um are there any other questions about this certification? Thank you, Shia. Um, who was present on behalf of Boston Legal Greens? Tito Jackson.
Mark. Okay. Um, you will have 10 minutes. You can share your screen and begin. Okay. Um, my name is Tito Jackson. I am a resident of 37 Skyler Street in uh
Boston for the past 50 years. Um I have been brought on as a consultant um for community engagement uh to help legal greens in this process. Um we have um engaged in a extensive uh community outreach uh process um and met with uh
and contacted um all of the um organizations uh in the area um that we were uh told um to uh speak with. Um we um were able to receive letter of um
uh support um from uh councelor uh Warell um who was the district counselor. Um also another letter of support from uh councelor Leune um uh um madame president of the Boston City Council. Um we also got a letter of um
non-opposition from the Codman Square neighborhood council. Um it should be noted um that all other um uh all other applicants um that had gone to Codman Square uh neighborhood council had um uh
received uh letters of opposition um in in the past. So we were very happy uh to receive um this letter. Um and I will just note um that this is uh a proposal for uh courier um uh and and delivery uh
operator but um we have actually received and and would like to keep the door open um for uh future opportunities um to potentially uh open a dispensary. I will note uh because uh in doing uh
work on the building uh recently um we've actually um had 40 to 50 people a day actually ask for a dispensary to be back in in the um in the location. Um but I I I digress. This is actually a um
a proposal for um uh the delivery uh uh and courier um operator. Um I will hand it over I am Vanessa. Hello. I'm gonna share my screen. Are you guys able to see it? Yes.
Um, okay. So like Tito Jackson said, we are doing a delivery for your operation. My name is Vanessa Gene Baptist. I am one of the owners of I have 51% ownership of
Sorry Mark, I'm gonna mute you because Okay, sorry. Go ahead. No worries. Um yeah, so I am one of the owners of Legal Greens. We have been operating in Brockton for 4 years now. Um I do majority of the ordering when it comes
to products um clothing. I do all the um bundle deals and anything that has to do with like products and operations with the SOPs. That's I mean the the sales floor has to do with me.
Mark. Hi. So thank you for taking the time um to speak with us today. We truly appreciate the opportunity. My name is Mark Bouquet. Um, I've worked in retail for over 20 years and for the past four years I've been operating Legal Greens uh, cannabis dispensary focused on
responsible operations, community engagement, and equity. Uh, we could go to the next slide. So, um, 571B Washington Street, Dorchester. Um, why we chose this location? is an ideal location due to the existing cannabis infrastructure. Um
minimal renovations. It already has a vault um secured access control. Um it's a it's located in a dense area. Uh the previous retail operator faced no challenges with respect to parking. The location reduces upfront cost and max
maximizes logistic logistical efficiency. Um so we plan to do a delivery operator and a cer. um how that helps out. Um we have our Brockton location that we would be able to, you know, deliver to the Southshore area with the Cora license and with the
Dorchester location, we'd be able to same thing, deliver um within the inner city of of Boston. Um our vehicles are going to be unmarked. Um we're going to be leaving at staggered times. It's going to be batch orders. Uh so three,
four, five times a day a delivery driver will come to our back location um loaded up with product and then deliver it right to the consumer. Um as you could go to the next slide for security um like I said the the
facility includes a CCC compliant vault and access control. Um agent only access with visitor log if anybody else would be coming in the building. um robust camera system and the whole building would be under surveillance 24 hours. Uh
the vehicle security would be um equipped with GPS tracking uh body warn cameras, unmarked vehicles, randomized deliveries, and no product or cash stored in the vehicles overnight. Um, every delivery requires identification
and any discrepancies would be immediately reported to the CCC or law enforcement. Next slide. Okay. So, slide is our prevention of diversity. Um, there would be no no cannabis will be
sold in on this property. Um there would be no display of any cannabis being sold at the property. Um our vehicles will be discreet and all signage will comply with local ordinances. We actively
address we will actively address any issues or concerns that the community may have. Prevention of nuisance. Um legal grief maintains a strict policy and protects the youth to comply with the state
regulations. We do not we will we do not market or advertise to individuals under 21 and prohibit any content being sold to minors. We will only hire people that are 21 or over. Our website is um it has
a a marking where you have to verify that you are 21 to even enter the address. I mean to enter the website and all of our packaging will have um notes saying that no one under 21 are allowed to um order um order or receive any of
these products. Um our next slide is city. Um, right now what we do in at our retail store, we have two workshops that help people to get into the cannabis industry. I'm the
one that actually does that program. Um, it's like a 2hour program. We will we put it on the newspaper and we put it in our stores as well that um we're doing a program and anybody that wants to be in the marijuana industry or wants to know how to get into the marijuana industry.
I show them how to do an application with the city and with the state and the once you get provisional the extra steps that you have to do to actually get commenced. And then our second goal is that we are focused on hiring minorities
in our store. Right now we have 40 people and I would feel like 39 of them are either Haitian TPS holders that are Haitian um blacks and kverians that represent the area in Brockton and we
would do the same thing in Boston as well. And then all right. So um like Vanessa just spoke about our our current um staff in Brockton. Um definitely um replicates what the community is and we plan on
continuing to do that in Boston as well. Um so we plan on hiring 80% residents, 66 from minority communities such as Dorchester, Roxbury, Madapan, and at least five women on the staff. Um the
wages would go for drivers. uh depending on your you know driving record $16 to $18 managers up to 25. We have benefits including medical, dental, PTO and annual performancebased promotions. Um this is something that we already do on the side as well. Um 40 hours of like
earn time off after working for a year. So after our um staff has been working with us for a year, we give them an additional 40 hours just for them, you know, kind of relax, take some time off with your family. Um we're committed to second chance hiring. aiming for 25% of
employees with prior convictions. Um, recruitment will happen through civic organizations, job fair, and targeted media. Next slide. Oh, I just spoke about that. And so, um, Tito said we got, um, community support
from our elected officials, um, as well as Russell Holmes, um, Melville Park, um, Cafe Juice up as business, Here's my destiny, here it is Barberhop. Um, and we do have, um, a upcoming meeting with TNT just to continue engaging with the
community. Next slide. Um, so we're committed to maintaining open lines of communication with stakeholders through tools. Um, we're also like our Brockton demonstrate our record in Brockton demonstrates our ability to operate with transparency, compliance, and deep
commitment to the community and legal seeks to rep replicate this excellence in Dorchester, bringing equitable cannabis opportunities, local hiring, and economic development to Boston's neighborhood. Thank you for your time. we support and are happy to answer any
questions and if it please the board I just want to note um I did make a um a mistake on some of the uh support non-opposition um and and the slide is correct so I I defer to the the written
Thank you. Um we'll begin with comments and questions from the board members beginning with Chairman Joyce. Thanks Jasmine. Um, I'm not sure who I should direct this question to, but why are you just doing going for courier and delivery operator? Do you plan on coming back to
us for retail in the future? Yes. So, we started with just the intentions to do um courier and um delivery operations. But after having the community meetings, people in the community said they would like a place to be able to go into as well. But our
intentions were to add on to our legal greens in Brockton, be able to deliver to the Southshore and be able to deliver out around the Boston area. Okay. My next question is we're in a position we want to the board
is in a position to do what we can to see operators succeed and we take a look at these applications through various elements and different lenses. And I believe there was previously a retail shop here and it appears it didn't
succeed because they are no longer there. So can you explain to me why you would succeed and what happened and um what's going on here about that? So the other operator I'm not so sure
why they didn't succeed except for that I I know that they didn't pay some bills. Um, now why they didn't do that, I can't answer that. Um, but um, we've been operating for four years in Brockton. We we've been successful
enough to purchase the property in 571B Washington Street. We own it and so um, it it just makes sense and I I think we'll we'll be fine with how we operate. I'm not sure on how the other companies
you also own the building. Yes, we do. Okay. And it's I'm just looking at the the letter of intent. The landlords Loki and the two members of Loki. Are you and Michael Maloney? Um no, it's called Loki Realy.
Loki Realy. It's signed by Yes. Oh, Loki Realy is owned by Michael Maloney, who is also 9% interest in um Legal Greens. Correct. And Vanessa and I are on that as owners as well of Legal Greens but not the
building. No, of of the realy as well. Oh, so okay. So he's the manager but he's like he he's the manager but we are part of it as well. If you Okay. I might have more questions but um I will defer
to the other commissioners right now. Commissioner Holmes. Sure. Um, could you just be a little bit more extensive about your security plans for the building and for the product and for
your your vehicles and your driver? So, yeah, the sec the the building has already been approved by the cannabis control commission because it was a dis you now though, not what was bound before. What you going to do? The same exact thing. The same cameras are in
place, same location. I'm just going to change the the company that they were using and add my company which is Cetronics which we've been using for four years in Brockton and been operating compliantly. So um in terms of the vehicle cameras will be on the
outside, cameras will be on the inside. Um body cameras for the for our employees that are doing the deliveries and um yeah we're just going to operate compliantly with what all the regulation requires us to. So, how many vehicles
are you planning on starting out with? Two vehicles. And how many drivers per vehicle? Two two drivers per vehicle. And where would you be storing these vehicles after hours? So, we own both
locations. One in Brockton in our secured parking lot that has camera access as well and the other one in in Boston. Where would you be storing the vehicles when you're utilizing them in Boston? behind the the property that has camera
footage, private property. And so, what does the back of that building look? I mean, is it a secure parking lot? Does it have a fence? What does it look like? Yeah, it's it's secured with cameras. It's I wouldn't call it an alleyway, but it's a a driveway that goes in the back.
Yeah. And it's secured the cameras on it. Good. Yep. and Commissioner Holmes. Um, at at the end of the day, um, particularly if, uh, someone typically this does not happen in cannabis, people usually wait for their order. Um, but if at the
the day, Tito, you're you're you're um, um, any product that was brought back, um, that product is actually stored in. Yeah, Tito, you're fading in and out, so I'm not getting your whole answer. Yeah,
your connection is is messing up and you're muted now. Um, what Tito was trying to say, I believe, is that um any products that are left in the vehicle, they are going to go back into the the actual store,
either our Brockton location or our Boston location. Um, our vehicles will be parked in the back of the store of our Brockton location or our Boston location. Um, and we wouldn't have any products in the
vehicle itself overnight. So, if I'm hearing you correctly, you're going to be utilizing a lot of your product and inventory from Brockton to do your delivery business and stuff here in Boston. No, we're going to have um
products being dropped off at the store in Boston as well. So, we're the same deliveries, the same companies that we use in Brockton, we're going to use in Boston. We're gonna have deliveries come into Boston. They're gonna deliver in the back how Loki has it right now in the in their back parking lot driveway.
Um there's a back door. They will come in. We'll do the product um receive the products and then as people do deliveries within the time frames that they do it in. The drivers will come in the back discreetly. Um we will fill up the the v the vans to then to fill up
the van to then cuz one will be located in Brockton, one will be located in Boston. So our bro our Boston location will have one van and that will do the the deliveries within the Boston location. And you So how the your products where
are you going to be getting your Boston products for? Let's just only talk about Boston right now. Where would you be getting all your Boston product from? Um from vendors, cannabis vendors that are approved by the CCC. Um they will come
do deliveries in the back. We'll have an a inventory personnel to receive the product and then to then have a dispatcher dispatch the products to people that do deliveries. And how many how many people do you have or are you planning on having working to
help you fulfill all these orders and stuff? 12. 12. And that's specifically for Washington Street. 12 people. And that that includes your drivers as well as your in in your in-house staff too.
Our in-house staff, our manager staff, the dispatcher, all inhouse at 12 from the beginning. And then we'll see how the market goes. If we need to expand, we'll expand. If not, then we'll just keep that 12. Okay. All right. Thank you. Welcome.
Commissioner Spence. Thanks, Jasmine. So, Mark, you're going into where Low Key was, right? right next to the liquor store and there's this old citizen bank at the corner which is now an open space. So you guys enter the through the back of that bank
where there's a parking lot that's actually wide open. So you No, not the not the parking lot. Um on Aspen Wall Street there's um a it's like is a easement. The parking lot is closed off. I think they're working Citizens Bank is working I feel like on
that park. Well, that space is open for the that space behind Citizen Bank is open. So, you're saying they closed that one off? I think they're doing apartments in that in that parking lot. It's fenced off. It's closed off. They have a lot. But
you're going to be right near there in the back. Correct. Yeah. There's a a driveway that attaches that attaches to Citizens, our location, and the um the liquor store. And the liquor store. store also gets deliveries. Yeah, they
get deliveries. They're using the same space. They get deliveries as well. Sorry. They're using that same space. Correct. But we're just we're parking it overnight and they open at 9:00 a.m. We'll be gone
by then. They open at 9:00 a.m. and you're working overnight. Is that what you said? No. I said, "By the time they get there, the vehicle will have already been on its way to do the first delivery at 9:00 a.m."
So, they use that same to get their deliveries, just like we would use that same to get our deliveries. From when we've been there, they've only had like one delivery um on a day-to-day basis. Not every day, but in within the week, they'll have like
two deliveries. And that could change or just That's the average. You're saying? That's that's how it is. We've asked them how often they do deliveries, but you guys are using the same space. Okay. 12 employees. What's the pay rate?
1618 for the drivers, up to 25 for the managers. 1618 for drivers and what's the other one? Up to 25 for the management. 25. How many of them are management there?
We'll probably have 12. Okay. I'm sorry. Yep. Out of that 12, probably three of them are managers. Correct. Okay. Because we need to oversee um the inventory that's happening per the regulations. We have to do inventory
daily. So, they'll be doing that and you know, just the overall operations as well. And we'll be open for seven days a week. So, um And you're doing new new hiring for this store, right? Correct. We do all the hiring. We've actually had people um that used
to work at Loki sending us emails uh for their resume and we're separating that. So once we open, we're going to start calling them and letting them know that we are in the process of hiring if they still want to work at that location.
All right. Thank you, Commissioner Gardi. Thank you, Jasmine. Um, I have a couple of questions. So, you talked a little bit about your signage program in your presentation, which I really appreciated. And given what you just uh
um also discussed about possibly opening as a retail location in the future, do you have any kind of um renderings or what your signage will look like as a current delivery business? and then what it might look like if you wanted to open
up as a retail location. Um I I know you're complying with the science regulations, but what what will that look like? Because that street um you know, I I want to make sure the streets are um and storefronts are clean. Uh it's very clear that this is an existing business. It's not something that
someone can come in and you know um um it's it's not a a vacant storefront, so to speak, but it's it's a business. But how do we kind of what does the signage look like for your current plan is my question. So um if it's just like right now for
delivery it'd be no signs up front. We wouldn't put any signage in the front and our employees would access the back when um we do propose and are able to do a retail there. It would literally just be a legal greens similar to how Loki had um up there. Not huge. it would fit
and match the the proper storefront that's there right now. I guess the question is how do we um ensure that it doesn't look like a vacant um unused storefront for folks to potentially
um you know I hate to use this word but vandalize or or enter without any permission. Um, and so I'm just, you know, want to encourage you to think about, um, you know, kind of keeping that storefront clean. Um, you know, that there's someone in there. Um, that
it's not an empty vacant storefront for folks to kind of take advantage of. Um, you know, and and so that's that's where I'm going with this. Um, and, uh, any opportunity to clean up our streets and clean up our storefronts and and kind of make sure that they're, uh, that they're
used, um, that they're respected is is always a good one. So, I I'd like to see some thought on what that would look like. Well, yes. So, we Oh, sorry. But we've been there daily and we've been cleaning up the the front. The windows
are are cleaned. Um, right now we put brown paper on there just because, you know, we're not actually operating as of the second, but there's grates that pull down and you can see that the grates pull down. So, um, and when we do operate it, it will the the grates will
be up. People will not be able to access it. Um, if it's just delivery, when it's retail, we'll have a receptionist up there that will be able to take IDs and you'll be able to see that it's a clean storefront and it has a reception area that is nice and visible and and clean.
But, we we've been there since we've um gotten the keys and we've been keeping the front clean. Um, the liquor store next to us, they do that as well. So, um, and we've been in communications with keeping the area clean. That's that's that's definitely part of
something that we want to do. Thank you. We own the property, so it just makes sense for it to be clean and nice. Yeah. I I just want to make sure it's, you know, it's it's it's seen as a place that has is a is a business. Um, even though it's not open to the public at this point, and that's not we're
that's not what we're kind of voting on today, but it's a it's a, you know, occupied business. Um, and it should be seen as such. Commissioner Sto, thank you, Jasmine. Um, and thank you, uh, Legal Greens team, Council Jackson.
I actually had a similar kind of construction of a question as the as Commissioner Gandhi because when I see delivery license and then I look at the picture of the storefront, it was a little bit of like, wait, what? And so I I just I guess to dovetail on councelor
Gandhi's point if there is a way I'm sure it's probably an egress um question but if there is a way to put some some planters or something that is a you know uh stopping folks from thinking that
they can just walk in right because that's I think a a major kind of point but also b makes it look nice right so it's like it kind of like like both and right and so if there was a way to sort of make that happen I think that would
you know in the short term kind of answer the two things that uh the commissioner was pointing out as well and commissioner stood um just to note um that that picture was the picture um uh in the previous state of the property that property was a a full burnout uh
prior um so I but we we wanted it also to be sensitive there was a a prior business there and we thought that it would be inappropriate to show the picture of the the prior business. So, we didn't want to put that in front of the board. So, it doesn't currently look like that. So, it's not board that
boarded up uh sit uh picture that you saw is actually not the current state um that that it is in. Um it has actually been upgraded uh since that time. Um and if and if you'd like uh we can give you some a picture of the of the frontage. I
mean, I think I think it'll be helpful um just as we're, you know, considering all all the factors. Sure. Any other questions? Commissioner Sto, are you No, that was it. Thank you. Commissioner Kinsler, um I saw in the application materials
that you had gotten a um like order of refusal from the Boston Zoning Board. Um was that just because it had been zoned for um retail use and its delivery instead? Yeah. Correct. Okay. And so you have to
just apply for a special permit to them to get around that. Zoner refusal is only per an um an applicant. So because they're a new applicant, they have to get their own refusal. So that's how it works. Um
okay. And then um for the employment uh plan um so you only had it listed for like the management and drivers, do you intend to have like all the people working inhouse on the same like wage scale plan as the rest of the drivers or
people going to be working kind of like back and forth between the different positions? Um yeah, so this is going to be like um a in-house crew. Uh but we usually we we start between 17 and 18 um currently right now. So it's just going to be in
that range. It won't go any lower than that. But drivers you said are starting at 16. Between 16 and 18. Oh 16. Depending on their driving record. Yeah. Depending on their driving record and that that's
what would bring them down to the 16. But um like other in-house workers, majority of them will start at 17 or 18. Sorry, we missed that on there. Okay. And so are the are the drivers and the in-house workers
going to be classified separately or are they going to be like all kind of lumped into one pile and people might work in-house one day, driving another day? Um it it some people want to be drivers. Um, so it's just going to be based on the the staff at that point. Some people
might want to be drivers, some might want to be, you know, packagers. So yeah, it like for example what I saw right now, some people are reception, they're bartender, or they play both roles depending on what, you know, what they like to do. So we're just going to kind of keep that open.
Okay. Um, those those are my only questions. Any other follow-up questions from the board members? All right, we'll move to public testimony beginning with elected officials or the representatives. I just wanted to add that this is um the the
what the address what the actual place looks like at the moment so everyone knows that it's not the boarded up one that we showed on the um on our presentation. Can everyone see it? Yep.
Yeah. Cool. All right. Stop sharing. I'm Connor. Yeah. Sorry. Uh, madame chair, members of the board, Connor Newman with the mayor's office of neighborhood services. At this time, the mayor's office like to defer to the judgement of this board. Uh, some background information the community process. ONS had hosted a public meeting
on April 8th that was well attended. Uh, there were a number of abutters who had questions on how uh the operation would go uh with the couriers and the deliveries. Uh the applicant was able to address those concerns and answer those questions uh explaining um that there would be the uh the loading and the
pickup would be in the rear of the structure. Uh it would not impact uh parking in the front. Uh there were some residents that had concerns regarding not so much with the operation of the proposed dispensary, but how the previous dispensary at this location uh
was ultimately displaced. Uh there were also uh one or two other residents who just had concerns overall with the number of dispensaries uh located in Dorchester. There were also a number of supporters that were on as well uh including some um store owners on on the strip. Um we did receive two letters in
support which we forwarded to the board and also as mentioned uh the Cobman Square Neighborhood Association issued a non-oposition letter uh which we have also forwarded to the board as well. Uh with that information we'll defer defer to the board at this time. Thank you. Thank you, Connor. Are there any other
elected officials or their representatives that would like to speak? All I see none. Um Luke, did anyone sign up to testify on this? Uh not for this matter. No. Okay. Um is there anyone that would like to provide testimony for
this matter? All right. Seeing no one, the board will take this matter under adisement. All right. So, the board's voting meeting for the one for the amendment that we heard and for the new license application will take place next Wednesday, June 18th at 1 p.m. and the
record will be kept open until Monday, June 16th at 5:00 p.m. Um, we will now move to our reconsideration. Uh, the board is in receipt of a resident's petition for reconsideration of the vote that was taking place on May
28th in which the board granted INI Garden LLC an amendment to their hours to operate from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. So, how this is going to work, we're going to hear from a representative of a person who
submitted the petition. We are going to let I and I give a brief rebuttal. The board will then vote. If the vote passes, we will then hear from I and I again about their request to change their hours and then we will take public testimony and then there will be another
vote after that. So we will begin. Is there a representative who was a part of the petition that is on the call? Miss Wayne, I can jump in here. Um Alandra Fzoko 166 Metropolitan Avenue. I
live a half mile from uh the 22 Birch Street location. Um in conversation with neighbors over the last couple of weeks, um we have significant concerns about the extended hours of this business. Um
the concerns are three. The first is that the location is particular. The 22 Bird Street uh location is not really on a street. It's a legacy name. Birch Street is now a pedestrian plaza that
has public seating throughout most of the year. And so residents are concerned about um the ability of patrons to congregate before or after purchasing products. And so there's a site location concern. Additionally, there are two
dispensaries uh.3 and 7 miles from the location. And uh residents would just like to note that among residential neighborhoods, Rosendale is second only to Dorchester um with three already operating
dispensaries 7 days a week. Um and although Dorchester has four, they have a population of 122,000 people, Rosendale has a population of 29,000 people. Um, beyond that, I would uh note that residents are concerned about the
progression of the application and the way that it's evolved considerably over the years. The original petition was for a manufacturing site for edibles um and now uh the petitioner or the excuse me,
the applicant is moving um toward a full license. And so the concern really is that the applicant uh the LLC group has has continually pushed the envelope in terms of what the original site plan uh was for and and what's now being
considered. Um I would just finally note that uh in all of the conversations that we had, it seemed as though residents who have been in uh Rosendale for uh a number of years are are concerned about the movement on this project. And um we
also noted that there were some business owners who expressed their opposition previously who are wary of um continuing to publish their names in opposition because of the potential business backlash in terms of their own customer
bases and livelihoods um because of the sensitivities around this particular application. Um, I know that there's some other people from the area on the call and so I'll let them speak a little bit more about uh their their individual concerns. Okay. So, like I said, we just
wanted one person from the petition to speak to the merits of the position and etc. So, um, we'll move to any questions. Do any of the board members have any questions for this petitioner?
Okay. I and I I don't sorry just one question um whether Alessandro you or someone within the group um that has been having the conversations and feedback um
have you or anyone in that group had a direct conversation with folks at INI? I cannot speak for all of the signatures. Um there were about 30 people that signed the petition. Um, I have not personally.
Okay. Uh, and just and I and just full disclosure like I'll ask I'm going to ask I and I the same question, right? But I just want to just have an understanding because uh Yeah. So, thank you Jasmine. That that was it. Any other questions from the board
members? Yeah, I had a I had a quick question. Um, I mean, without having to get into like any specific names or anything, could you just say a little bit more about what you mean by like the fear of backlash that make people not want to attach their names to it anymore? I think that um, well, that's not from a resident point of view. It's
from a business point of view. Obviously, uh, the Rosenville Square um, business community is a tight-knit group. Uh, there are a lot of small storefronts that have been there for many, many years. I think that as public
um perception of cannabis has shifted uh to a more progressive liberal um position, uh certain business owners in the square who are a little bit more skeptical of the number and concentration of um dispensaries are
just cautious about attaching their name um to a letter that opposes a dispensary um because of the potential potential impact that it may have on their own livelihoods. I think that a lot of patrons that they have u may be in
support of dispensaries in general perhaps not of the exact location and hours but I think that that's the concern that that we heard in conversation with some of the people in the square. Okay. Okay. So, it's it's not as much about anything like with this application specifically as just
like being worried that they they'll seem like they want to they're in favor of maintaining the kind of old carceral attitudes towards cannabis in general. I wouldn't say the latter half of that. I don't think that they're necessarily in favor of those um attitudes. I think that not that they're in favor of it,
but that they it would appear that they are. Yes. I think that people are worried about the perception. Um and again, purely perception, not not reality there. I think that that it's really an issue of concentration. I mean, a lot of the people that we talked to are not against cannabis. Um, it's
just that it seems as though the applications in Roslandale have moved forward with a cadence that is unusual um or or exceptional. I I would I would say um relevant to the other residential neighborhoods of the city of Boston. And
so people are concerned about the waiver on the half mileile distance between one location and another. Um, additionally, many of the other sites that are currently in review and JP, West Roxbury, and Hyde Park are pretty close
to Rosendale Square. And so, it seems as though um we're quickly moving in a direction where there could be more than a dozen um dispensaries within a mile and a half, two mile area of Rosenddale Square. And that's where residents are expressing their concern.
Any other chair? Thanks. Just a comment. I'm not sure Allesandre if you realize that the number of cannabis um licenses that the
city gives out is related to the number of package store licenses. So, we do anticipate a city of Austin having um lots of places that do pierce the buffer zone. That being said, could you um let us
know how these um signatures were well, they're not even signatures, how these names were gathered? Sure. Um there was a group of people who were uh concerned after the vote uh on the 28th um who were on the phone with
one another and then um there was some organic conversation that just happened uh over the last couple of weekends between neighbors. I think that if you look at the uh signatures of the petitioners, you'll realize that many of them are um you know, a few blocks from
one another. Um but it was people hopping on the phone, calling one another, uh emailing. Did you take the lead on this? Uh I was one of the lead people. Yes. Okay. And how far away do you live from Bird Street? I live a half mile. I'm on Metropolitan Avenue. And
how long how far away do you live from the other um cannabis establishment? Um, it's roughly equivalent from the Washington Street location, a little bit further than the South Street location, but then I am actually closer as well to
the American Legion Highway location. And so I'm right in the middle of a triangle of three other cannabis locations. Okay. Were you on the last hearing? I was not. Okay. Um, I don't have any other questions.
Any follow-up questions from the board? All right. Um, the INI team, if you want to give a brief rebuttal. This is not a full presentation. This is just a rebuttal to the petition and then the board will vote if they're going to
reconsider the extension of ours. Great. Good morning, uh, Jasmine and the board. Thank you for hearing us today. Um, as you are aware, last night we submitted a counter petition um to the petition that was submitted with 55
names on it. And since then, we've gotten four more people signed on. We also did an online petition that has over 60. All 59 of the names on the petition that we submitted to you are Roslandale residents or business owners to let you know how we got to those
people. They are people that I've been in contact with, business owners over the years. We also walked the streets of the neighborhood, explained the situation of what was going on to people, and we received an incredible outpouring of support to review our counter petition. Um, we strongly urged
the board to leave the decision as it was. If the board is going to reconsider anything today, they should just be reconsidering giving us the full seven days instead of the five that we were compromised on. Um, throughout this process, community engagement was met and exceeded. Throughout the years, we have participated in multiple rounds of
community of um community processing. We applied for our retail license at the same exact time that we applied for our product manufacturing license. So, the petition that was submitted to you is misinformed. We've not skated anything. We've gone through the same exact processes and requirements if not more
than some of the other cannabis locations, specifically Rosendale Cannabis Co. Um at every stage, public input was invited and addressed. The request for extended hours and the rationale for shifting from the original bakery forward concept to a sustainable retail model has been discussed openly.
Um there has been nothing to hide. We've explained many times how distraught this industry is, which is probably part of the reason why our competitors are so scared of us coming onto the scene. Um the reversing of the decision right now would be extremely unreasonable and
harmful to our business. We proceeded forward based on the decision that the board made. This costs money and this costs time. I today stand before you with less than $100 in my bank account. Rosendell Cannabis Co. owners are literal millionaires that own millions of dollars of real estate in the
neighborhood, including the building that they exist in, something I'll never have the privilege of having. Um, I am an equity applicant, one of the only ones, the only one in Rosendale actually. And this business is 51% owned by me and 75% 76% womenowned altogether.
Um we again proceeded with operations based on the decision that the board made on uh the 28th and reversing this decision now would cause uh further delays and again unnecessary financial strain on again a local equity owned business. I also want to address the
plaza. Birchief Plaza is a public mixeduse space. It's not a private residential courtyard. It includes a brewery right now. So we must know and understand that responsible adult use is part of that environment. Furthermore, uh we have never done anything to
indicate that we would allow people to consume. In fact, we have gone above and beyond to say that we will monitor the street to make sure that people aren't and we will educate uh patrons of our store to make sure that they understand that they cannot consume. Um, the concerns about it being a child and family-friendly space are pretty
irrelevant in this request considering the fact that we are requesting Monday through Thursday for hours of operation. We're already approved to operate retail Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Those are the times that the uh plaza is most utilized by families. Anybody who lives in this area and is in this area knows
that that plaza is not utilized Monday through Thursday during the day, especially by families. Furthermore, the plaza is only really utilized for one to two seasons a year because again, it's an outdoor space. And I just want to repeat that no evidence has been presented to suggest that our company has contributed to any nuisance of
behavior or intends to. Um, I do want to press the board to say that clarity around community engagement is urgently needed. We need to understand as business owners and operators what position the community plays in this. I think it's really unfair that we've even been presented with this rebuttal
because again, we are a business. We are operating every day. The fact that the board can make a decision, 27 people can sign, not even sign, as you mentioned, send in a petition with their names and addresses on it and that could possibly cause the board to reconsider, the board needs to maintain this decision for the integrity of the board's own
decision-making process. If if the idea is that anytime someone doesn't like a suggestion or uh something that No, no, this is Can we just like this is about a reconsideration of your hours? But but this is this is relevant within
I do really feel though Jasmine that this is really relevant within it because this community processing what what has happened in the last several months is very very heavy on me personally. my name has been slandered throughout the community by some of these people and I do really want to
make sure that everybody understands what their role in is in it is understand that we have um again exceeded the community engagement that was required of us in this process. The fact the whole idea about that we're hiding things or anything like that
that's really not true and I really do just want to push that forward. So again that's that's our position. I don't want to upset the board in any way, but I do want to be honest about how I feel in this process. It it it takes a lot out of me personally every time I have to
come back to this board. And I don't want to have to even come back in six months for another request because they're going to just do this all again. But I will just go back to say that again. We submitted a counter petition with more than double the names on it than what they had, double the residents
and business owners. And I really hope that you will take that into consideration. I don't think 27 people should be the people that make the decision about this. If you look at the demographic of people on that list compared to the demographic of people on our list, you'll note that our demographic is a much clearer representation of the Rosundell
community at large. Thank you. Thank you. Do any of the commissioners have any questions or comments for the INI Rose team? My only comment is we received this petition and as chair of the board I
felt obligated to bring it forward um in the event that perhaps um members of the community were not fully aware of what was being requested. Sounds like um Mr. Fzoko
was not aware of what was going on until after we voted. How that happens, I don't know. I thought, you know, we tried to have a very robust community process and it it's appearing um through this petition that
this these people didn't know about it. So, I just feel obligated to bring it forward that it's just a it's a it's a it's requesting our reconsideration. So, that's where we are today. May I just offer one uh line of clarity?
I just I think it's important um to note that I don't know any of the owners of any of the other dispensaries. I don't think that M Miss Rose was necessarily insinuating that, but I I know that some of her remarks were pointed toward um one of the other dispensaries. I've
personally never been in any of the Rosendale dispensaries and I have no affiliation with the owners of those groups. I just want the record to be clear on that. Okay. Thank you. Do any of the board members have any additional questions for the INI Rose team?
Commissioner Sto Rose, um uh thank you for your rebuttal and for taking the time to um participate in this. My question is about um once the scuttterbutt kicked up
about this um change um had you reached out directly to any of the folks um or had you received communication from any of the folks who were uh troubled by this and you know
concerned about the impact? Just to clarify, do you mean regarding this petition specifically or in general since we've been getting opposition since February uh in the runup to the petition being done? So maybe it was maybe it was an
individual outside of someone who signed the petition but also expressed to you their concerns like Okay, I just want I'm happy to share that. So, first of all, we've had multiple conversations with community members through the community meetings we orchestrated and
set up and we listened to everybody's concerns and addressed everybody as not even just in the moment, but then we came back with additional meetings to address further concerns. And how and sorry just to for more clarity for everybody and how were those meetings um
um communicated or or publicized through many channels but the most prominent of which is that we fly the neighborhood. Okay. Yeah. All right. And and I also do just want to point out that this opposition kicked off in February and has been strongly led by
the owners of Rosundell Cannabis Co. From that very day that they opposed us, I went into their store to have a conversation with them about this situation. I explained to them I'm an equity applicant. I've been in this process for 5 years. Um, and that I really wished that instead of having
this kind of um strife between us, we could find a way to work together. They refused that offer and said they'd rather go about it this way. Okay, fair enough. All right. Uh, that's helpful. Thank you. And then um oh there's one more question that popped into my head
and it fell out. I don't know if anyone else has a question. I I'll see if I can think of it. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, I thought of it. Sorry. Um had you um so I think we had had this conversation previously. Had you contacted the local
elected officials in the past? Yes. Since February, I have been in touch with local elected officials. Yes. Not regarding this petition specifically, but yes, regarding this issue. Yes. Okay, that was it. Thank you. And I believe Enrique Pepin did write a letter of
non-opposition where he also expressed the need to allow businesses to pivot models as needed. Yes, we have we have that letter. Thank you. I just want to make sure that you had had that conversation because I know we had talked about that previously. We certainly have. Okay, great. Commissioner Holmes,
have Miss Rose, have you ever been opened as any faction of what your original business plan was that we originally approved? Yes, we operated as a product manufacturing facility for about 10 months until we ran out of cash
flow. We had zero dollars. And you keep talking about February. What was February? Is February when you decided to pivot your business plan? No, I decided to pivot years ago. February is when we came to the board for the extension of ours approval and that was
the first I learned about some of this community opposition. Okay. So, when was the last time that you were actually functioning opened as a manufacturing
bakery? October 2023. October 2023. That was the last time you were open as a business. So since October until February, the plan has and I understand for financial reasons why things have to
change. I do understand that. So okay. So, the last time you were actually open was um October of 2023 and that was under the hours that we originally proposed which was the Friday through
that was we were doing product manufacturing at that time. So, we were operating Monday through Thursday and we had already been approved at that time for retail hours Friday through Sunday. Friday through Sunday. So, were you what were you retailing Friday through
Sunday? We've never done retail. So you've never done retail. You only were doing the manufacturing. Correct. October. Okay. So So if I could go ahead. Nope. Let me finish so I can get
it right. So your I know you we I know and the reason I say this because I always thought that your business was very unique, the bakery and that stuff. And I know for me that was the reason why I voted for it. Um, when you were
doing retail, what were you selling? When we were doing product manufacturing, we were selling baked goods. What we found was that the market just didn't support it. We couldn't be successful, which is why we decided to pivot to full retail. However, I do just want to include the fact that we are
committed to having a boutique store to still upholding a lot of the original design and plan the apothecary. Okay, I don't have a problem with that. I don't have that's not the problem. The problem is to me in my mind the problem is that we have changed our business plan
because your retail in my mind was for baked goods not dispensary items. That's my that's the dilemma here with your license. I I don't begrudge you for having to pivot because this is a tough bit this is a tough thing to do and it
takes an awful lot of money and I understand why you have to switch business plans. I get that. The fact is that in order to change the business plan, you have to come back before us with a new business plan because now you want to sell marijuana
products as opposed to the bakery items, which in my mind, and if I'm wrong, I admit it. In my mind, that was the license that I voted for you for was the bakery products, not actual marijuana. I
mean, if you know what I mean, flour based stuff like that. hear what you're saying. I do just want to say that we always had the intention that we were going to have cannabis products in the store. I get that licensed. Ma'am, can I just say what I was saying? So, we always have that
intention. Yes, the bakery goods were the hope was that they were going to be the dominant product in it. Um, but I do just want to point out that it's not like we got a bakery license. It's it's not like we went through a different process. We obtained a retail license.
We had to go through the same process. I disagree with you. I I totally disagree with you. I totally disagree with you. I in my mind and and if I'm wrong, the chairperson is sitting right here. In my mind, I believe that your license was
for manufacturing and baked good retailer, not complete cannabis. That there's no baked goods and retailer license. There's only a there's only a retail license. Yes. Commissioner Holmes, the the way the licenses are set up, they're not set up for like you
said, she was doing baked goods. So, she would have to get a product manufacturing license to cook. That's what a product manufacturing license is. Now, in order for her to sell it, she had to get retail. There's not a retail bakery. There's not a retail. It's just
retail, period. So, you can't You know what then? You know what? Then that's the fault of the license. And this is a lesson for us because like I said when when I voted back in 23 or whenever we gave this lady her
license because I clearly clearly remember thinking how unique her product was and what she wanted to do. And the fact that we allowed her to pierce the buffer zone was in for me was
specifically because she was doing a unique boutique type of business and it wasn't just regular marijuana retail. wait for signing away. So this is this is a clear lesson for all of us as to
whether we need to stop having some kind of demarcation as to what the technical retail license is for so we don't step into this bomb again. I agree. And I also will say that I hope that I'm not
going to be penalized for this because even when I decided to obtain a retail license, I still knew that there was a possibility that we were going to have to that that you know the idea of oh majority baked goods might not win,
might not be successful. And it was even less successful than I had anticipated. I also want to point out that we created our business plans in 2020 and 2021. We didn't even get licensed to start until January 2023. And upon coming into the
market at that time, the market had also significantly changed from the time that we had proposed our business plan to the time that we got there. If I had the understanding that we were only getting a license to sell baked goods, then I might not even have pursued that license because I could have told you from then
that that might not be appropriate. I don't know that I could have gotten funding on that. So, I don't think it's fair to try to say now that all of a sudden I don't have the license type that I do have, that I did get approved for and that I've had to go through the same hoops. It's not like, you know, I I
maybe for you it was different, but I still had to go through every single step that a retailing license would have to go through. No, I I I know you did. I I know you did. I know you you sat through it, so I understand. But like
I'm saying also, I think for me in my vote, the reason that I voted for you to pierce that very because you have a very close um proximity to the other ones was because you were so different
and your and your product was different. And I do remember there'd be no overlap and there would be over no overlap with the other business and and I remember all the things that were said during that first hearing. So
like I said, this is a mis this is I wouldn't call it a mistake. It's probably something that because the board is something new that none of us anticipating having this conflict come back
on us. So it it's going to take a whole another look now. I mean and I know it's not fair to you but sometime life is not fair. I mean reality in reality life ain't fair. It ain't fair that I got to sit here and go through this again either you know but well you don't have
it. You could just move forward. I I um I understand your frustration. I understand the financial urgency for you. I get all that. I I get all that, but I think as a board, we we we have
got to find a way to rectify this. We we've got to and and in the end of this, somebody's not going to be happy. It's either this board's not going to be happy, the community is not going to be happy, or you're not going to be happy. But it it has to be rectified because it
it's a it's a new situation. It's a unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in now and it's totally unfortunate for you because in in the long run you're the one that's caught up in the middle of this. I'll be really frank with you. I'll be
really frank with you. I can't really see a way forward where I have to essentially start the process over. I don't have the funds to do that. I can't afford to go through this process again. If these licenses are to maintain value,
there there has to be some integrity behind them. And so to tell me now that, you know, oh, sorry, even though you got the exact same license type and you are licensed as a retail licenser, you can't I I just don't understand that. I I
don't understand how that um also upholds any commitment the city has made, especially to equity applicants. I think that yes, I had a unique idea and I really wished it worked, but the business model didn't work. And so to to suggest that anytime that happens, um, a
business would have to go through this again, all you're going to do is limit any but they have you're not the first there have been businesses that have to come back through us and have to re represent because they've changed their business model. So you're not the first one that it's going to happen to. It has
happened to others. I understand that that's when they're obtaining different licenses. This is the license that I already have. No, people that have had a license have had to come back before us because of one thing or another. So, I mean, they've already had retail licenses and
they wanted to change one faction or something of their license and they had to come back before us. So, you're not the first one that's had to do it, but I have done it. Unfortunate. It's just unfortunate that again I believe and like I said and I'm speaking for myself.
My vote for you the very first time was because I thought you were a bakery. I thought you were doing edibles. I felt it was a very unique um business. I was very pleased and supported with everything you did. But I also know for
me the reason why I voted to pierce the buffer zone was because your business was different. It was different. And so now we have to revisit that and it may be of no fault
of your own. It's it's this body's problem that we have to figure out. Could Could I just ask a question really quickly? Who are you? Who are you? I'm Cedric Wallally. I'm also with INI Rose Garden. Um I'm just wondering in the past two
weeks, I guess why has your opinion shifted? Because when we were here two weeks ago, um these points weren't really brought up and we were approved for 5 days. So I'm just I'm just Absolutely. And the reason why it wasn't brought up because I was going to vote against it, but we came up with a
compromise and I decided to be the be better guy and go with the compromise. Okay. But all right, I'm I'm not sure I I fully understand um why this is now being
readressed then um given that a decision was made and I also know that there were other board members that did want us to have all seven days. Um so I do understand that this was a compromise. I understand it's a really uh nuanced uh position to take and I really appreciate that you guys wanted to find a way for
us to move forward. I guess I'm just wondering why this wasn't brought up two weeks ago. So, but thank you for your for sharing your opinion. And I the last thing I just want to add is that I I understand that there is a small faction of the
community that has concerns about this, but I also maintain that there's a much larger part of the Rosville community that does support our business. They do support the change in concept. They do support the change in ours. And I think we've proven that with the petition that we sent in. I think if we had more time
than one single day, we could have got much much more support on that. So, I I really just want to point that out. Yes, there are some community members that are concerned. It's a small group of people and I I just that is why I've called for a little bit more clarity around community processing because, you
know, I just don't know that this is really a clear and real representation of actual concerns. Yeah. And and if this is going to be reconsidered based off of uh 27 signatures, I don't understand how having twice the amount in just 24 hours doesn't also kind of
take that into consideration. Not to mention, as much as these people are like very much trying to distance themselves from Rosenddale Cannabis Company, like some of the signatures are people that have been on these BCB meetings speaking for Rosendale Cannabis Company. So there it's not like this is
a completely separate group of citizens and residents within Rosenddale. This is clearly somewhat being uh led orchestrated by them and the owners of Rosundell Cannabis Company are on this hearing right now. Yes, Commissioner Sto. Thank you.
Um, so I think you know I I you know the reality is I I I I understand your the the frustration is coming through loud and clear and it is merited, right? But
I also want to, you know, really sort of underscore the the reality around public processes is that it's messy. And if you want a good result, sometimes you have to go through these really awful um phases. And the
reality is 27 could be way more than enough if there was something egregious happening, right? I don't care if it was three in reality, right? And then the opposite is also true. Yes, it is great to see double the number, but as a former, you know, political organizer, I
could get you 120 in less than an hour, right? So, I don't the math doesn't necessarily matter. I think it's the quality of what's being said. And if another person were to um u you know bring up an objection certainly more
than one you know about something you know I think it's worthy of the board's responsibility or it's it's uh incumbent upon the board to consider those factors especially in a new industry that is you know and I think this is a great
reflection of that that is transitioning into a more regular space in our business communities and that is threatening to some that's just a reality of how business works, right? And so, and I'm not even a business person. I'm just looking at that from the outside. It's like, well, sometimes
stores go away and new stores come in and those new stores may not be what, you know, fit in the same, you know, aesthetic as the other stores. That's reality. And the the old store owners at some point, they're going to get used to it and no one's going to even talk about
it. And the new store owners, you know, likewise, right? And so I I just think we need to go through some of these processes. Unfortunately for you who have had to go through this multiple times because the cannabis industry is so new. It requires so many you know uh
uh layers of red tape and hurdles and things and and financial investment. That is also I think should be something that is um what the opposition should really be also considering is how many levels of people and decisions that have
arrived to this point in order to have this business be there I think is also incredibly important because guess what I think business owner to business owner I you know I understand the the you know if you had that conversation and and
maybe you know there's two sides of every story and maybe they had a different take on how that went and I understand that too, right? But at the end of the day, if someone was encroaching on your business space, I think you, you know, as a responsible business owner, you would also probably
think about, well, wait a second, that's going to hurt this business. And, you know, but I want you to also be mindful of this experience, right? so that when the next business comes through that's that's a crazy yo-yo uh company that nobody wants next door to them that
you'll be the business to say, "Hey, you know what? They we went through this, too. And crazy yo-yos are okay. I don't like them, but we're going to, you know, uh try to help you along this process." Right? So, I think that's what we're dealing with right now. We're literally having that moment in this process. And
uh I appreciate everybody bringing their feedback to this so that the board can actually make an informed uh decision. So that's all I got to say. Thank you. Do any of the board members have any additional questions or comments?
No. All right. We will move to a vote. So, this is to reconsider the board's previous vote of allowing INI to be open Wednesday through Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Um, Chairwoman Joyce, do you have a motion for this?
Um, so I make a motion to reconsider the extension of ours, which would should the reconsideration be granted, we would then move into a new hearing.
Is that right, Jasmine? Yes. Okay. So, make a motion for reconsideration. Is there a second? I'm confused. So, we I don't understand. So, last week, was it last week or two weeks ago? No, I I
get that. So, if we vote for the recent, what's the new hearing? So then Kijan and her team will be able to present the amendment to ours and we would it would be a new consideration for the hours. Okay. So she would represent to us. Yes.
Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh I had a point of clarification question quickly, Jasmine. Um when we were talking about this last time, it sounds like our vote is really just limited to whether the hours change is approved and we're kind of like not considering the change in usage as the license at all. Correct.
This is only for a change of That's why I just reiterated. This is for reconsideration on the board's change of hours for 5 days a week, 8:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. That's the reconsideration. That's what we voted on. Yes. So, this is for to reconsider that because we
received the petition to Got it. Got it. If it succeeds, we'll have If it succeeds, we will start over. Yes. and talk about whether or not her hours should be extended. And through that, we'll probably learn more about what the neighborhood is saying that they didn't
understand. Commissioner, yes, just a point of information maybe for Danny Green. Uh, am I eligible given that I did not vote on the prior? Yes, you are. We already checked with court counsel. You all eligible to
All right. So chair, is everyone clear on what? Okay. So I make a motion for reconsideration. Okay. I'll second. All right. All in favor? I'm going to go again. Commissioner
Holmes. Yes. Commissioner Smith, you're you're muted. I abstain. You're abstaining. Okay. Commissioner Sto. No.
No. Okay. All right. Let me just write this. Commissioner Kinsley. Uh, no. I'd vote to uphold the previous one. Commissioner. No. Well, I have all apps from them. Yeah, I signed them up.
So I have I mean um no All right. So that is two for reconsideration and four against. So the motion does not pass. The board's um approval on May 28th stands for the
amended hours of 5 days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, 8:00 am to 10 p.m. All right, those are all the matters before the board today. Thank you all for attending and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you. Thank you.