By Stuart Foster, Contributing Writer
MARLBOROUGH – The Marlborough City Council unanimously voted, June 6, to approve Calverde Naturals’ application for a special permit to operate an adult use marijuana establishment in town.
The approval, which the City Council Urban Affairs Committee had previously recommended by a vote of 5-0, was debated or discussed by the city councilors.
The Calverde dispensary is set to take shape at 239 Boston Post Road West. It will be constructed in a development of around 2,800 feet across from the Chipotle restaurant in that same plaza.
Calverde Naturals is owned by Winchester couple Kelly and Steve Tomasello. As they’ve pursued permitting in Marlborough, the pair have simultaneously sought to open a second dispensary in Belmont.
That effort went before the Belmont Planning Board last month.
The Tomaesllos plan to lease space for their Belmont facility. In Marlborough, though, state regulations effectively require them to build their own storefront.
As there are open storefronts in the same plaza Calverde is currently set to occupy, those are all too close to the nearby Mountainside Children’s Center to satisfy a minimum 500 foot setback of marijuana establishments from daycares or facilities geared towards children.
Moving forward, the City Council’s vote, this month, makes Calverde the fourth marijuana dispensary opened in the City of Marlborough.
Due to Massachusetts state law limiting the number dispensaries in one community, that means Calverde will also be the last such shop opening for the time being.
