Thorndike Board of Selectmen await information before moving cannabis business forward
The three-member board wants to know the modifications and additions Nova Farms will make to the property.
Zoom screenshot.
THORNDIKE As a commercial cannabis distributor makes its plans to expand to central Maine, Thorndike’s three-member board of selectmen said they cannot yet sign off on the project and send it to the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy.
Nova Farms, a commercial marijuana grower, plans has an agreement in place to purchase farmland. The Thorndike Board of Selectmen said in a meeting Wednesday evening they are awaiting permitting to move forward.
With moratorium nixed, marijuana grower plans expansion into Thorndike
Massachusetts-based Nova Farms is buying Donald and Bertha Maxim s 170-acre farm on the Gordon Hill Road.
Share
Thorndike residents voted 50-34 at a special town meeting to nix a proposed six-month moratorium on new marijuana businesses to provide time to create a local marijuana ordinance.
The vote pushed forward the sale of Thorndike resident Donald Maxim’s 170-acre farm to Nova Farms, a commercial marijuana grower.
“It’s definitely a favorable decision,” Nova Farms CEO Derek Ross said Monday. “We had plans to start deploying capital and executing the project three weeks ago, and this was the curveball that slowed us down. Now that we’ve gotten past this, we can move on to purchasing the property and start developing the project.”
In August 2020 the town opted into the state's adult-use marijuana policy, but selectmen wanted to draft the town's own ordinance on pot business, which called a halt to the sale of Donald Maxim's farm to a commercial pot grower.
Unease in Thorndike as marijuana business, resident thought their deal was done
A motion passed at the Jan. 6 Board of Selectmen meeting to hold a special town meeting on Jan. 16 to vote on a moratorium.
Share
THORNDIKE Donald Maxim thought the process of selling his 170 acres of farmland to out-of-state commercial marijuana grower Nova Farms was all but done. This week he learned the transaction is in flux, leaving the business and landowner equally frustrated.
Despite the town voting to opt into Maine’s adult-use marijuana policy at an August town meeting, the topic is up for another vote when a special town meeting convenes next week to consider a six-month moratorium to create a local marijuana-related business ordinance.