HUDSON – Native Sun Wellness will no longer be charged a 3% flat rate of its gross annual sales to pay a “community impact fee.”
All of the funds from the community impact fee were used for police and fire protection and traffic control, among other initiatives to ensure the business’ success, according to Executive Assistant Thomas Gregory.
Native Sun opened its doors in late 2020.
During a Select Board meeting on Nov. 7, the board unanimously voted to authorize Chair Scott Duplisea to approve an amended community host agreement, which would remove the 3% flat rate of gross annual sales.
“It was unusual that we could get money through that [a host agreement] and not through taxes,” Duplisea said.
With the amended community host agreement, Gregory said the community impact fee will be generated when the services – such as police and fire protection and traffic control – are provided by the town.
“Instead of Native Sun just paying a quarterly three percent of their gross revenue to the town, that goes away, and they would be reimbursing the town. We will continue to call this a community impact fee, but it will be in response to any of these services provided by the town,” Gregory said.
He added that the services would be provided to the business on an “as needed” basis.
This comes after Gov. Charlie Baker signed a cannabis regulation law over the summer that prohibits municipalities from charging a marijuana business a community impact fee after the business’ eighth year in operation, according to the First Amended Community Host Benefit Agreement.
The new legislation was enacted Nov. 11.
Gregory said the prior and current legislation allows the town to charge Native Sun up to 3% of the establishment’s gross annual sales.
However, he said it has been difficult for the town to document the expenses because the community impact fee must align with the business’ costs incurred.
“So what Hudson has done, through working with town counsel, is to put in place a more realistic model about what costs are incurred that would be coming back to the town, versus simply a flat three percent fee that we have struggled to provide a basis for,” Gregory said.
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