To the Editor:

My name is Edward Phipps and I am the Chief Executive Officer of Casco Botanical. We are a cannabis cultivation & manufacturing company that has been operating successfully for the last 7 years in Casco, Maine. 

As someone who grew up in Massachusetts, I am excited to apply our experience to a plan to bring a cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility — and the accompanying financial boost — to Dartmouth. 

But before I can do that, I’m asking Town Meeting to change its current zoning to allow cannabis cultivation and manufacturing (NOT individual retail) facilities in the general business district, instead of being restricted to the Marijuana Overlay District. Unfortunately, there is no building in the current district with the high ceilings, square footage, and distance from schools and other public buildings to make this project work.

However, we have found the perfect location in the Dartmouth Indoor Tennis facility: 40,000 square feet set back off the road on Route 6 with no close residential neighbors. We will create up to 25 jobs and generate up to $500,000 in annual revenue that Dartmouth can spend on schools, infrastructure repairs, etc. 

My goal is to operate a safe, responsible, high-quality business this town can be proud of while giving back to the community via property and excise taxes, 3 percent of our gross annual revenue, and annual donations to local nonprofits.

I am proud to say that the zoning change that would make all this possible has been endorsed 3-0 by the Dartmouth Planning Board and 5-0 by the Dartmouth Board of Selectmen.

I hope voters will also vote to support this small change to the current zoning and support incoming small business owners at the October 15th Town Meeting.  To learn more about me, my firm, and or this proposal, I invite anyone to visit www.cascofordartmouth.com or email me directly at info@cascofordartmouth.com.

Sincerely,

Edward M. Phipps

CEO, Casco Botanical