Facility applies for site expansion

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Trulieve – the Gadsden-based medical marijuana company with ties to Simpson Nurseries – last week applied to the Jefferson County Planning Commission for a revision to its site plan in order to be able to expand construction of its medical marijuana growing facility here.
Engineer Shawn Marston, of the Tallahassee-based Urban Catalyst Consultants, which is designing the project, appeared before the planners on Thursday evening, Dec. 12, to request the site plan modification on behalf of Trulieve and to answer questions.
Marston told the planners – some of whom questioned why the additional buildings hadn't been part of the original site plan – that issues had arisen in the design of the newly consolidated building that was slowing down the overall project's expected completion date.
Marston was referring to Trulieve's recent decision to consolidate three buildings of 250,000 sq. ft. each that had originally been approved into one gigantic building of 750,000 sq. foot, which change the state approved.
“They can build the smaller buildings at a faster rate and begin growing the product,” Marston said of the requested expansion, adding that rapid product production was the desired goal.
The site plan revision before the planners entailed the addition of eight buildings: four of them 24,000 sq. ft. each; two, 46,000 sq. ft. each; one of 8,400 sq. ft. for storage; and one of 5,000 sq. ft. for the housing of the reverse osmosis system.
Which additional buildings, Marston said, Trulieve's 85-acre property could well accommodate.
To compensate for the additional growth, he said the facility's storm-water pond was being increased, which expansion the Suwannee River Water Management District had approved, or was in the process of approving.
It was Marston's representation that the changes would not impact any other aspects of the operation, including the number of employees, which he said would remain the same as originally indicated.
Marston offered that by January, part of the facility should be operational and people working.
The planners' overall discussion of the issue was extremely low key, with Marston the only one appearing on behalf of Trulieve and the planners having hardly any questions.
The only two issues discussed had to do with the facility's lighting and buffering. Planning Official Shannon Metty asked that the lights that fronted U.S. 27 be adjusted to cast their light downward, instead of across the road and onto the properties of adjoining landowners.
The question of buffering also arose, as the trees that formerly shielded the property's view from U.S. 27 had to be removed to accommodate the transmission lines that feed the facility its electricity and for the easy ingress and egress of the heavy machinery that is onsite during the construction phase.
Metty pledged to ensure for adherence to the county's buffering requirements, once the project was completed. She conceded, however, that adjustments might have to be made to the buffering relative to U.S. 27, given the nature of the operation and the requirements of the transmission lines, which can not be obstructed by obstacles, whether natural or otherwise.
Following the brief presentation and discussion, the planners voted unanimously to recommend the modifications to the Jefferson County Commission for approval.
Construction on the medical marijuana growing facility, which is located less than a mile east of the community of Waukeenah on U.S. 27, is progressing rapidly, with multiple buildings already up.
Originally, the site plan called for the construction of three buildings of 250,000 sq. ft. each (since consolidated into a single 750,000 sq. ft. building), plus four buildings of 24,000 sq. ft. each.
The proposed facility first surfaced in May and was rapidly approved by the Jefferson County Commission in June, based on the recommendation of the Planning Commission.
Points made in the original hearings and presentations established that Truelieve is a state-licensed medical marijuana company with a processing operation in Gadsden County; that the local facility would only grow the marijuana, not process or distribute it; and that it would employ 300 people when fully operational.
The facility is expected to operate 24-7 and be highly secured, both with perimeter fencing and security personnel.
The Jefferson County Commission was scheduled to take up the planners' recommendation at its next scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19, in the courthouse annex.