Cannabis Citizens Review Committee
The Office of Planning & Economic Development (OPED) is looking for resident volunteers from Wards one and two to serve on a Cannabis Citizens Review Committee (CCRC).
The CCRC will review proposals for spending the city’s Cannabis Impact Innovation and Impact fund. The Impact Fund is created by an Impact fee collected from the cannabis industry in Holyoke. An impact fee is a 3% fee placed on the cannabis industry to address the impacts of the industry in a community.
Proposals for spending this money will be requested by city departments to address staffing, infrastructure, planning, business support and other impacts the cannabis industry has on the city of Holyoke, particularly wards one and two where these companies are located.
The CCRC will act as a reviewing body in the process before funding requests go to the Holyoke City Council for approval. To date only $50,000 has been allocated from the fund. The Cannabis Innovation and Impact Fund has collected fees for the past 3 years and has over $3 million dollars available.
The CCRC will be limited to a maximum of 10 residents.
The first meeting of the CCRC will be at 5pm on Wednesday October 26th. Members should plan on meeting once every two months. CCRC review meetings will be open to the public.
Interested residents should call (413) 322-5655 or email oped@holyoke.org.