Northeast Alternatives to expand with new pot shop in Swansea

SWANSEA -- Northeast Alternatives Inc., a marijuana dispensary, will expand into Swansea.

Selectmen last week ratified a five-year host agreement with the dispensary, which will turn a lot on 610 Grand Army of the Republic Highway into a non-medical pot dispensary.

This new pot facility will be the second Northeast Alternative shop within a 10-mile radius. It also operates a shop on William S. Canning Boulevard in Fall River.

The Swansea contract ratification on Oct 13 comes only a few weeks after Robert Marquis, an attorney working on behalf of the company, asked the selectmen to reduce payments from the company to the town.

Marquis said Northeast requests a payment of $25,000, instead of $37,500 on the day it opens for business. The company also requested that the second payment, 30 days later, also be reduced to $25,000, from the original $37,500.

Marquis said significantly higher opening costs and financial hardships during this pandemic have led to the request.

The lot on 610 GAR Highway houses a Suzuki dealership.After meetings with the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals, following February meetings with selectmen, it was decided that some new construction would be warranted on site, according to Marquis.

Marquis also requested that the company pay $10,000 for police detail, also lower than original numbers.

There is optimism that the three percent annual revenue to the town -- or $750,000 -- will still occur for Swansea, according to Marquis.

Selectmen Chairman Christopher Carreiro wanted to negotiate some of these numbers.

At that Sept. 22 meeting, Marquis said he was not authorized to renegotiate.

Selectmen Steven Kitchin and Derek Heim both expressed interest in moving forward with the smaller numbers, though it is $50,000 less than what was initially approved.

After the meeting, Carreiro said that selectmen have no choice but to work with Northeast Alternatives, stressing that “letters of non-opposition are no longer” an option for local authorities.

Carreiro said that Northeast Alternatives has a long "road ahead of them" before they are able to open doors for business in town.

“We have a legal obligation to engage in good faith negotiations,” Carreiro said.

At the Oct. 13 meeting Kitchin expressed frustration with how some interested marijuana companies have disappeared from Swansea. Kitchin said only Northeast Alternatives has followed through.

Kitchin, who just entered his second term on the board, said every year that he has been on the board, a different pot company has come before the board.

“I think Northeast Alternatives deserves an opportunity despite innuendo and allegations to the contrary,” Kitchin said.

At the September meeting and at the February meeting, Kitchin alluded to the investigations into Fall River’s cannabis industry, from which former mayor Jasiel Correia allegedly attempted to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars.

At the September meeting, Kitchin said that Northeast Alternatives has a solid reputation with the state Cannabis Control Commission.

“There is no empirical evidence to state we should not enter into a host agreement with this enterprise. The Cannabis Control Commission is doing business with Northeast Alternatives and is treating them like a vendor in good standing,” Kitchin said.