Pepperell board approves marijuana host deal with Umu Flowers at 3 percent impact fee

PEPPERELL -- February 10, 2020, Pepperell's Board of Selectmen unanimously approved a host community agreement with Umu Flowers, LLC for an adult-use marijuana dispensary at 2 Tarbell Street, setting a 3 percent gross-sales impact fee, the state maximum, for five years. Town Administrator Andrew McLean said both Umu Flowers and a second applicant, New England Craft Cultivators, each project roughly $4 million in annual gross revenues, translating to approximately $250,000 per facility annually in combined impact fees and local excise taxes. The board also unanimously approved McLean's amended employment contract, raising his salary to $140,000 for fiscal year 2021, a $10,000 increase, with equivalent raises in each of the following two years, after a board member acknowledged Pepperell ranked last or second-to-last in administrator pay among comparable communities surveyed. Four residents, Seth Bourgeois, Joseph LeBono, Kathy Lundin, and David Kersey, were appointed to a new building committee charged with evaluating town facilities, starting with public safety buildings. The board also authorized deficit spending in the snow and ice account, which stood at negative $22,326, pending a free-cash warrant article at the May town meeting.