SOUTHWICK — Haven, the town’s second cannabis retailer, took another step towards opening after the Planning Board approved signage for its building on College Highway but turned down its request to include “cannabis” on the sign.
“We discouraged the other applicant from doing that,” said Jessica Thornton, the Planning Board chair, referring to a similar request by Pioneer Valley Trading Co., which the board also turned down.
“I would say that would not be something … she said before John Lemanski, the owner of Chicopee-based Sign Dynamics, said, “we’ll go back then.”
Thornton said the board wanted to keep everything “fair and square.”
Lemanski said the letters of Haven’s name will be individually illuminated about a foot and a half above the canopy over the store’s entrance and cover 59 square feet.
Because the former Family Dollar building has windows on nearly half of the front façade, Lemanski said 3/16 inch thick acrylic panels will be applied with translucent vinyl letters and the Haven logo.
Thornton explained the window coverings.
“I will note, because I looked this up for myself; the filming on the windows, while it’s not something that we require, or specifically call for within our own sign bylaws … it is part of the state code that prohibits [cannabis retailers] from having products or brand names being visible to the exterior, so this why you see this sort of setup on any dispensary you come into contact with,” she said.
Board member Jason Grunwald said he thought the front façade looked “great,” before asking if the Haven sign was bigger or smaller than the Family Dollar sign.
“Size-wise,” said Brian Kuchachick, one of the owners of Haven at the hearing. “It’s smaller.”
The pole sign in front of the building, located at 681 College Highway, and currently painted red, will be repainted black, and the Haven sign will be installed in it.
Before Thornton asked the board for a motion to approve the signage, she reminded Kuchachick that the pylons in front of the store needed to have some sort of signage.
“That’s not something that you would have to come before us for something small like that, but I didn’t want [you] to forget that that was part of the special permit,” she said.
Haven, which operates under the corporate name Responsible and Compliant Southwick LLC, is one of two retailers offered an opportunity to open in town in September 2024.
The Cannabis Control Commission recently reviewed and approved the architectural review of the interior of the 8,300 square-foot facility.
That allowed Haven to begin repurposing the interior, which was completely empty, said one of Haven’s other owners, Mark S. Dupuis.
Only about 2,000 square feet of the building will be used for its showroom, lobby and patient consultation, he said recently,
Because one of Haven’s principles is a verified social equity applicant, it will be applying for a grant of $200,000 from the Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund to assist with the building’s repurposing.
About 4,000 square feet in the rear of the building will be used for manufacturing and white labeling, which is packaging products for other cultivators.
The space will also include a restricted area of about 1,900 square feet that will include a vault and the manager’s office.
The only change on the building’s exterior will be the addition of a side door on the building’s south side.
The business will operate under the California-based Haven, which has over a dozen retail operations in Southern California.
Dupuis, who has no connection to Mark A. Dupuis, the owner of the now-closed Heka dispensary in Westfield, and Kuchachick will be relying on the knowledge the parent company has developed over the last decade while operating medical and retail cannabis dispensaries.
The parent company will also handle the administrative side of the business, taking care of tax payments, accounting and legal services.
