Village Council recently voted unanimously to spend $48,000 on an infrastructure engineering study to be completed by Heintz Engineering at the so-called CBE site, vacant land along East Enon and Dayton-Yellow Springs roads that is slated for economic development.
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Cresco Labs LLC, an Illinois-based medical marijuana company, has a purchase agreement with the village to build a facility on eight acres at the site. The purchase agreement is contingent on the state granting Cresco Labs a license to grown marijuana in Ohio.
“While Cresco Labs will be paying for the infrastructure, because the village will need to obtain EPA permits for water and sewer … the village must pay for the engineering studies needed to build the road,” Village Manager Patti Bates told council members before their vote.
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Bates said Cresco has agreed to build the road on the site, and not just for their facility, but the road requirements for the entire site, which includes having two entrances.
Councilwoman Karen Wintrow said facilities that ultimately get licensed by the state will be required to be operational by September 2018, and if construction will not begin until licensing is awarded, the design and permitting work can be done ahead of time.
If Cresco Labs is denied a license to cultivate marijuana in the state, then their purchase agreement with the village would fall through, but the village would receive a $20,000 option fee, which would help offset the engineering report’s costs.
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The state continues to review applications from 185 companies looking to cultivate marijuana in Ohio, said Stephanie Gostomski, assistant director of communications at the Ohio Department of Commerce.
That review process is expected to be over with licenses issued in November, Gostomski said.
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