Both state Rep. Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox, and Cheshire hemp farmer Jacob Ziemenski, think the bill would help farmers, though they disagree on just how much.
But first Chair Stephanie Boyd reviewed the steps the board took to gather input and generate consensus around the marijuana issue, which generated angst, confusion and, ultimately, no action at the 2020 annual town meeting. Boyd talked about the feedback the Planning Board received from the Select Board; the Board of Health; the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee; the Zoning Board of Appeals, which ultimately would apply the bylaw in special permit proceedings; and the Agricultural Commission, which last year ended up writing a competing bylaw to that proposed by the Planning Board. Boyd also ran the draft bylaw language past the Williamstown Fire District and the Williamstown Police Department, she said. Neither raised any objections to the language the board has been developing since September.