You can go. Yeah. Go ahead. We're back. We're back.
Alright. Sorry about that interruption. Technical difficulties. We are calling the, this meeting of the city plan commission back to order. It's 05:21.
So with that, did you read your recommendation already?
Do you wanna I I did. Yeah. Well so so I read
it, but I didn't know if we read it
or So our recommendation is that you advise the council to approve this proposed amendment. And if permitted by the cannabis act, we advise that the separation distance from schools be increased to a thousand feet. And I would also add that the law department be given an opportunity to to proofread to make sure that, all, all references are are are appropriate and and accurate. K. Thank you.
is a public meeting. If is there anyone on the sign in sheet for this agenda item? I think it's called number five.
Yes. There are a couple. Oh, okay.
Alright. Andre Dev Div. And then on deck will be Matthew Smith. Stand up, buddy.
Oh, you have to go up to the microphone, sir. And
Matthew Smith, if you're here, can you please just take a stand up right here? We have a lot of people in the audience, and I don't wanna make sure we're efficient with, public comment.
How's it going? So I will try to be quick. I wrote down a bunch of stuff. I'm not gonna get through all of it. So my name is Andre Dev, doctor Andre Dev, that matters to you.
I've been working with a number of groups trying to, set up some of these worker owned dispensaries that were made legal in the 2022 law. For the past eighteen months or so, I'm currently working going to be a worker owner with one of the groups called Connects Cooperative, but I was formerly working with PBD Flowers. There's also a group called Free of Mind Flowers, and we're all looking into opening, these worker owned businesses. All of these groups would qualify for social equity licenses too, but we're interested in the worker owned business model because, we believe it's the best way to keep the gains from the cannabis industry within the communities where people are working to create solid, middle class jobs and a potential for building wealth in those communities for the workers themselves, not as we've seen in so many other states, something that is technically social equity but really ends up being sort of just a front man, when most of the money actually gets funneled to someone frequently in another state. So I just wanted to to take this in two parts.
The first is the ways this helps Providence be competitive and then the ways, that this can ensure the social equity aspect of the law works in practice.
Just just to interrupt you real quick. Usually, we ask about two minutes, to limit your comments to about two minutes. So I'll I'll start the timer on the next person. I didn't say that before you got up.
Oh, good. I will be I'll be really quick. Thank you. So, again, so one thing is we wanna be competitive in Providence with the other cities in the state. First mover advantage is really, really important in the cannabis industry, and so I really appreciate, that the council is doing this proposal to get that up and running early.
Because, again, you need to have real estate sewed up frequently months before the applications go out. Right? You need the real estate in order to do the applications. So without these zoning changes, getting that real estate is really hard and will end up being behind. Second, I think this could be a really big political win for the whole city.
Being able to open a store with, not just diverse workers, but diverse owners of the store, right, really leading the country in the way we make cannabis socially equitable and protect it from these large corporate interests that have, in states all over the country, found incredibly intricate, complicated ways to pretend to be social equity applicants but actually serve the same interests that have been served by, you know, every other law we deal with. I do also think that, you know, this could end up being, especially in commercial zones, another of Providence sort of distinct attractions in the region, a thing that will bring people to the city. And I also wanna just shout out that, like, Providence is Providence is the big city in the area, but our competition is Boston and New York, and they have stores in commercial zones. Like, we don't wanna fall behind. And I do think that opportunity is the way we should approach this is because, know, the people with a vested interest in Rhode Island cannabis staying the same, they're it's not gonna stay the same.
It can't. And so if we don't think ahead and build the things we need to think ahead, we'll fall behind. And we don't just have to avoid falling behind. We have a chance to be leading the country, and I just I want everybody to feel that excitement because it really is there. We just need to work together.
There's no we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We just have to work together at the state and local level. So just like some quick things, I know I don't have a ton of time. Commercial zones will also allow our customers to access from public transit, which is a huge thing. I mean, everybody uses cannabis.
There's no reason it should be limited to people who have cars. It's also a much better shopping experience in a commercial area. Not only do the local businesses benefit from the foot traffic, but customers get to, like, make a day of it. Right? Go you know, when they're doing other shopping, also be, shopping for this.
It also I wanna say, the goal of this is to create not just jobs, but very good jobs. Like, worker owner jobs in cannabis will be much better because the you have ownership in the thing. You get voting rights. Yeah. You get voting rights and sort of democracy in the workplace.
But it also in general, worker co ops have less employee turnover. And one of the problems in cannabis is that, employee turnover is, like, 55% over a year. So we want these jobs we you know, if the goal of this is not just to make money for the state or for a few individuals and to, like, make this an industry that really works for the people, focusing on worker ownership and giving these special permits for worker ownership is a big deal. And I also wanna take the time if you guys have questions about what the process looks like to get special permission and why it is so much more onerous for undercapitalized entrepreneurs And and why what ends up happening if you don't do some things by right is it just ends up, benefiting the rich people totally by accident.
I think we're gonna have Yeah. That's that's well over two minutes. So thank you very much for your your input. Okay. We'll Thank you so much.
Consideration. Yeah. Matthew Smith is up. On deck is, Sharon Steele.
Everybody. My name is Matthew Smith. I wanna speak on, the support I have for the proposal and the special consideration for work on businesses. I do have five plus years in the cannabis industry, as a manager. I just wanna speak to the uphill battle that workers like myself, coming from ethnic backgrounds like myself do have to face a uphill battle and, basically just obtaining structure so that we can go through development and know that work ownership will be a possibility for people like us.
I do have experience with zoning problems, from my second dispensary I worked at, which is Sweet Spot Farms. We had gotten granted our license in May, when the lottery had came out around June. And 91 Pershing Ave was the location that we had put up a consultation center in order to, hold real estate, and it took us about six months difference to open the store on 12/20/2023. And that just cost us a lot of money, a lot of waste of time. And I would just like to see, you know, just a a development in this this bill to benefit people that come from impoverished neighborhoods or that have actually worked in the industry that do have an uphill battle.
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
Sharon Steele is up next. Miguel Sanchez already spoke. So it's Hunter Silvestri on deck.
Hello, chairman and commissioners.
I'm the president of the Jewelry District Association. The Jewelry District is a 100% d one as is all of downtown. Just a quick information. No one in D one had any idea that this was even going to happen. I learned it last Friday, when I was called by the Globe, to give them my comments on cannabis in c three, c four, and d one.
So there has been zero outreach, no communication, no information, nothing. So all of the people who don't even know about it yet, certainly, you're not seeing the building owners of residential buildings here tonight. Suffice it to say that, the Jewelry District at this point is the center for life sciences. Brown University's med school is there, the Legeretta Cancer Center, all of the new mRNA research, the life sciences integrated building, 300,000 square feet, State Lab, 200,000 square feet. Every inch of whatever 1st Floor retail space is available is in a residential building.
It is our opinion, quick, from the board, my board at the JDA, and in speaking with several half dozen building owners downtown, also residential buildings with Ground floor retail space, they are opposed, a 100% opposed to this as I am, as we are. If in fact quality of life is the number one, shall we say, goal of this administration, then I would say, we ought to keep it and make it the number one goal of this, administration. And with that, under no circumstances by right, if ever by special use permit. Thank you.
Thank you. And there will be multiple city council hearings after this. We're just a recommendation. Up next, Hunter Silvestri, and that's the last person I have on my sign in sheet.
Hi. My name is Hunter Silvestri. I'm a lifelong Rhode Island resident, and a current Providence resident. I am, founder of one of the co op dispensaries that Andre mentioned, free of mind. We're not looking in Providence, but I've been in the scene for a minute.
And I'm also an organizer and advocate within the worker co op space. I really want to impress upon everyone here how unprecedented it is that licenses have been reserved for worker owned cooperatives. There, as far as we can tell, aren't any worker owned dispensaries anywhere in the world. It is a model for doing business. It's being invented here in Rhode Island right now, and people are paying attention to that.
But there are also significant challenges to making worker owned businesses work. They are hard to invest in because they have a whole bunch of owners. Many banks literally don't know how to lend to them because they're cannabis. Many banks can't. They're hard to get off the ground.
They also don't have, like, a growth philosophy. I heard some concern about kind of, you know, dispensaries popping up everywhere if if certain zones are open to worker co ops, and that's simply not the economic conditions on the ground. This is still a really new sector in Rhode Island. There are very few worker co ops, and this is a big moment to prove to Rhode Island and to the world that they can work, and they can work here in Providence. Also, as a resident just as a resident, I I wanna say that I look forward to being able to go get cannabis at the store without needing to drive super far and needing to park.
I think making these businesses that, other cities that I've lived in and other states make as accessible as other normal things to get. You know? I I I look forward to being able to to access these things in kind of normal parts of town rather than going out to the edge. So thank you.
Thank you very much. That was the last person on our sign in sheet. Is there anyone else here, who wishes to speak on this matter? Raise your hand. Anyone at home, if you're joining us, virtually, please raise your virtual hand.
It's the bottom middle portion of your screen, or press 9 if you are calling in. Seeing none. Doesn't look like anyone. Alright. Seeing none, we will close the public comment portion of this agenda item.
Well, commissioners, this is a recommendation. Obviously, we're not making any policy here. My recommendation or our recommendation, would be as drafted, adding in, for the law department to, proofread and confirm all compliance with state law. And I also really think that there should be special use permits for the retail considered. You have them for liquor stores, why not have them for cannabis stores?
I mean, it's I see it as a similar retail venture. There may be some some areas that that don't require it or that that the city council sees better, but I I think special use permits are a nice public check, to make sure that everything complies, especially since we're looking at changing merging the c one and the c two, which was not contemplated when this legislation was drafted. So I I think that's really important for for people to keep in mind, and that would be my recommendation. Noel? So maybe it's a question for for you, but is there
a particular definition of social equity applicant? Is it a nonminority owned business?
Admittedly, I don't know it off the top of head. I did look at it. It's it is defined in the state law. Oh, okay. Bob pulled it up for me.
