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Rowe
COMMUNITY NEWS Hudson marijuana retailer no longer required to pay community impact fee
By Caroline Gordon Reporter HUDSON - Temescal Wellness will no longer have to give a 3% flat rate of its gross annual sales to the town to cover a community impact fee.
This is the second change to community host agreements with marijuana dispensaries in recent months.
According to Executive Assistant Thomas Gregory, the fee was used to fund traffic control, police and fire protection and other services to aid the business.
During a Select Board meeting on Dec. 19, the board unanimously voted to authorize Gregory to approve an amended community host agreement, which would eliminate the 3% charge.
The community host agreement outlines the rules and responsibilities between the business and town.
According to the First Amended Community Host Benefit Agreement, Gov. Charlie Baker signed last summer a cannabis regulation law that prohibits municipalities from charging a marijuana business a community impact fee after the business’ eighth year in operation.
Instead of Temescal Wellness paying a community impact fee, the business will reimburse the town when it needs to utilize services such as traffic control, according to Gregory.
In November, the Select Board also approved the elimination of the community impact fee for Native Sun.
Select Board Chair Scott Duplisea said the town benefited from the community impact fee, but it now understands that the agreement must be “tailored” to follow the updated state regulations.
“I wish we could have kept it at what it was, but we are still getting some money from them,” Duplisea said.
He added, “We have gotten a decent amount of revenue from Temescal Wellness. Fortunately, both of the marijuana businesses we have have been fantastic partners and members of the town.”
Temescal Wellness is located at 252 Coolidge Street.
The recreational marijuana shop opened in 2019, though Hudson officials had pumped the brakes on the dispensary after they said Temescal Wellness didn’t provide a proper traffic management plan.
This Temescal Wellness is one of three in Massachusetts.
Temescal Wellness will no longer have to pay a community impact fee.
PHOTO/CAROLINE GORDON
Marlborough extends deadline for Rowe Funeral Home site plan review
Rowe | from page 1 Council approved an extension to March 29, 2023, for its decision on a proposal to convert the site into a five-story building that would be a mix of residential and retail.
The site plan review was filed in early October by attorney Brian Falk, on behalf of developer JW Capital Partners LLC.
The current plans call for ground-floor retail/restaurant space along Main Street along with 99 residential units made up of 72 one-bedroom/studio units and 27 two-bedroom units. The developers are also proposing 25 ground-floor parking spaces, a 20-by-30foot pool and a courtyard adjacent to Union Common.
According to the application, “This project has been designed to comply with the dimensional and design requirements of the Marlborough Village District without special permit relief.”
The site is on the corner of High and Exchange streets, adjacent to Union Common.
The former John P. Rowe Funeral Home was built in 1845 as a single-family home. It is listed with the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS) as the John E. Curtis/Hollis Loring II House.
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By Maureen Sullivan Senior Reporter WESTBOROUGH - Sweets fill the space within the newlyopened Main Street Pastries and More at the Chauncy Plaza at 135 Turnpike Road.
Cookies, cupcakes, cocoa bombs, truffles, apple turnovers, gingerbread, cheesecake — gluten-free, sugar-free, allergen-free, free for those in need.
At the center of it all — a single mother of five who overcame a lot of obstacles over the past few months.
Challenges
After deciding to move from Northborough last summer, owner Diana Batista thought it would take about $10,000 to convert the site of a former hair salon at the plaza at the intersection of Turnpike Road and Lyman Street into a bakery.
“It’s about three times the size. It’s an easy commute for me, and there’s parking,” she said about the new site.
However, the store needed a sewer hookup, a new refrigerator, new stove, floors and ceiling — that $10,000 soon became $100,000.
During this time, Batista also had to deal with heart trouble.
“I have a thyroid condition, and I gained about 100 pounds,” said Batista.
She had a “fibrillation” in July, but thanks to blood and iron transfusions, “my numbers are going down.”
She said she’s fine now, and she credits her family and staff for helping her get through this difficult period.
“It truly is a family,” she said.
In late November, Batista and her crew got the word – all the permits were granted, and the store was ready to open.
“It was the Monday before Thanksgiving,” she said. “We moved nothing but big-ticket items. We brought the cases, and then the boxes and chocolates. We worked all night. We took our first shipment on
“Mr. James” Frey, one of the bakers at Main Street Pastries and More on Turnpike Road, places some cupcakes in the case.
PHOTOS/MAUREEN SULLIVAN
Tuesday, and we’ve been baking ever since.”
On that Wednesday, the store held a “soft” opening.
“My 80-year-old father was there opening the door,” said Batista.
Mr. James and staff
The bakery includes a separate area to prepare allergenfree and gluten-free items. Batista knows something about allergies, since all five of her children are allergic to something.
It takes a lot of hands to create all the goodies offered by the bakery. This includes the making and selling of cocoa bombs (they sold 53,000 of them last year), along with gourmet cupcakes, custom cakes and more.
Two of those hands belong to James Frey, a Pennsylvania native who’s called “Mr. James” by the staff. That’s to lessen the confusion with the other James — Batista’s son —who works at the bakery.
Frey started baking when he worked at an Auntie Anne’s pretzel place, and he learned how to twist the dough into pretzels. From there, he became a tattoo artist, with a bit of baking on the side. When the pandemic erased his job, Frey joined Main Street Pastries full time.
He’s since created several non-bakery items for the shop, including the design on the coffee mugs and “Elfita,” the elf who comes out in December and July to help the bakery’s customers.
Batista herself is a Hudson native and an alumnus of Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School. She was a hairdresser by trade who had been
Bakery | 13
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Bakery | from page 12 baking for 35 years. She is now baking full time.
The bakery also employs two culinary arts students, and it recently added two new bakers.
“We’re doing well,” said Batista.
Baking up generosity
Donations for worthy causes have been part of Main Street Pastries’ menu since the beginning.
The bakery runs a nonprofit called the Hope Bread program. Started before the COVID-19 pandemic, the program helps less fortunate families access food and other goods.
If an adult staff member receives a tip, that goes right to Hope Bread. In addition, Main Street Pastries has helped the Fitzgerald Community School purchase the Friend Fridge, and they donate baked goods along with fresh fruits and vegetables and dairy items. They also help Trinity Church with their
Main Street Pastries and More recently moved from Northborough to Chauncy Plaza at Turnpike Road in Westborough.
weekly outreach as well as many veterans groups, schools, hospitals and nonprofits.
“We try to give back,” said Batista.
In the bakery cases, there are rainbow bagels (for Pride Month) and cookies with a cross. She’s received some flak for offering these goods, but the goods remain, and so does Batista’s determination to offer them.
“There’s no hate here at all,” she said.
Busy in the evening
Some bakeries have a breakfast crowd and lunchtime crowd.
For Main Street Pastries and More, the crowd comes early morning and after 5 p.m.
According to Batista, that’s because the Route 9 evening commute goes right by the bakery, and people stop in while heading home.
The bakery is open daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.
Main Street Pastries and More is at 135 Turnpike Road, Suite 3. The phone number is 508-330-6300. For the latest, visit mainstreetpastriesandmore.square.site or its Facebook page, www.facebook. com/mainstreetpastriesandmore.
Marlborough, church sign new lease for Union Common
By Maureen Sullivan Senior Reporter MARLBOROUGH - The city will get to use Union Common for the next 10 years.
During the City Council meeting on Dec. 19, the city signed off on a new lease agreement with First Church of Marlborough Congregational.
“I would like to thank City Solicitor Jason Grossfield for his efforts as well as the First Church for allowing the city to use this beautiful parcel of land in the heart of downtown for public events for all to enjoy,” said Mayor Arthur Vigeant.
The new lease will go into effect on Jan. 1, and will expire on Dec. 31, 2032.
The city will be responsible for lighting, snow removal, keeping the site in proper repair, maintaining the brick walkway and enforcing regulations against smoking and the sale of marijuana products.
The sale of alcoholic beverages will be limited to permitted public events, and to the sales of beer and wine only.
The lease can be terminated with 90 days’ notice from either the church or the city.
In addition to a public park, Union Common is used by the city for community events such as the summer concert series, a Halloween scarecrow contest and the recent “Home for the Holidays” event.
Union Common derives its name from the Union Society (later the Union Congregational Church), a merger of two Congregational societies in 1835.
It is home to the “John Brown Bell,” taken from Harpers Ferry, Va., by Union soldiers from Marlborough during the Civil War. The bell is named after abolitionist John Brown.
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By Caroline Gordon Reporter HUDSON - The Hudson Armory is one step closer to transforming into an arts center.
The Hudson Cultural Alliance recently reached its goal of raising $200,000 in funding for the redevelopment of the Armory.
In May 2021, the Hudson Cultural Alliance received a $200,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. As part of the grant agreement, the Hudson Cultural Alliance promised to match the funding from the council within a span of two years.
According to President Tom Desmond, the alliance has reached its goal six months early thanks to donations from local businesses and residents.
“We are very thankful to both the businesses and the citizens of Hudson and the surrounding areas for their generosity, it has really helped us move forward,” Desmond said.
According to Desmond, the funding will be used to pay for the architects’ fees to upgrade the building to safety, health and accessibility codes. The alliance has already used some of the funding to pay for insurance and an environmental inspection, Desmond said.
Among the corporate donors were Main Street Bank, Avidia Bank, Foundation for MetroWest, the Corkin Foundation, the Hudson Business Improvement District and the Hudson Business Association.
In total, $160,000 was donated from businesses, according to Desmond.
He added that $19,000 was raised by residents who made donations through the Armory’s website and about $28,000 was raised by checks to the alliance.
The Hudson Cultural Alliance solicited donations by placing ads in local newspapers, mailing notices, online fundraising and selling promotional items such as canvas bags at town events.
Hudson Cultural Alliance Treasurer Charles Randall said that raising the funds was a “learning curve” that was “very rewarding.”
“We are happy about matching the grant. We were working at it for a while. It was a slow process, but everyone is excited about it,” he said.
Randall added that he enjoyed partnering with local foundations and businesses to raise the money.
PHOTO/DAKOTA ANTELMAN
The Hudson Cultural Alliance reached its fundraising goal to transform the Armory into an arts center.
Redevelopment to take between three to five years
This is the latest in a lengthy journey dating back to 2018 to transform the Armory into an arts center. The town leased the building to the alliance at the end of August.
Edward Nunes, who is a local architect, has already begun designing the plans for the Armory. Once the plans are completed, Desmond said the alliance will hire a contractor to begin work within six months to a year.
The redevelopment of the Armory is slated to take between three to five years; however, the building may be used for outdoor activities within a year, according to Desmond.
“This Armory will give the town a location where they can do all kinds of events. We are hoping it will become a mainstay for arts and performances,” he said.
Randall said the redevelopment of the Armory will cause “an economic boom” for Hudson and surrounding towns.
“It’s also going to give a home to a lot of artists and several groups in town who want to utilize it. It’s a building that is going to expand downtown and add a lot of value to everything else that has been happening in Hudson,” he said.
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