WILTON — Four cannabis grow businesses received their licenses from the Wilton Board of Selectpersons on Tuesday, Sept. 5, under the conditions that they have a lease for the location of their grow operations, which is at 128 Weld Road, within 10 days and they install a filtration system within 90 days.

The four business are Kennebec Quality Gardens LLC, Biyon Gardens, Westside Botanicals LLC, and Shi Ang Gardens. According to Ellsworth, these four operations have been licensed by the state, but have not been licensed by the town since 2021.

The Select Board voted in favor of granting the licenses four to one, with Selectperson Mike Wells firmly against the granting of the licenses on the grounds of zoning ordinance laws.

“In our ordinance as it stands right now, failure to meet the requirements of this ordinance are grounds for denial of a permit,” Wells stated to the Select Board. “In other words, if they’ve been doing business in the Town of Wilton without a license, it’s grounds for revocation or denial of the license or permit for the Town of Wilton.”

The four individual owners [Jackson Zheng, Biyon Huang, Xiong Wei Huang, and Shi Ang Chin] have been working with Edward DuGay, owner of Harvest Consulting LLC, in regulating their business and getting things under control, with the biggest issue being the smell of cannabis during harvest.

Two months previously, state representatives found one of the operations in violation of their ordinance over the amount of growth that is allowed, resulting in an excess of 1,500 square feet of cannabis plant being shredded by the state.

“I design and install and write policy plans for odor control,” DuGay told the Select Board. As a member of the board of directors at Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine as well as a former member of Maine’s House of Representatives, DuGay has extensive history in the drafting of policies and installation of carbon filters and other filtration systems for cannabis grow operations in Chelsea, Hallowell and Gardiner.

“You can’t have all your doors open because it’s hot,” he stated. “Lately I’ve been having him keep the doors closed. Gary called me last week and they can smell it again, I called them up and said ‘guys, you gotta keep that door closed until I get this plan done’.”

Selectperson David Leavitt asked for a realistic time frame for the installation of carbon filters, which DuGay stated was 90 days.

The four individual growers are also being represented by Mark Walker of the Law Office of Mark L. Walker & Douglas F. Jennings in Hallowell. Walker appeared with his clients at the Select Board meeting, where he attempted to clear up confusion over the misinterpretation of Wilton’s ordinances.

“This is a new endeavor for them,” Walker stated. He explained that the original owner and investor, who he did not disclose at the meeting, is no longer involved. As of July, all controlling interest was signed over to Zheng, who formed a new LLC.

“That person who might have been the one that should have known about some of the ordinances in the requirements is no longer involved,” Walker added.

Wells asked how many of the businesses were in violation of the ordinances, to which Ellsworth responded all four of them were in violation.

“I hear what you’re saying, Mike,” Leavitt responded to Wells, “but I guess I’m of the mind that I trust anybody until you give me a reason not to trust.”

Leavitt asked if it was possible to pull the permit if the four operations do not comply within the time frame. Ellsworth responded with yes.

“I will say I’m in the same boat as David here,” Chairperson Tiffany Maiuri added. “I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. They weren’t maliciously trying to subvert our ordinance. They should have known about our ordinance but they didn’t subvert or try to subvert out ordinance. They’re here tonight asking for an opportunity to make sure that they come into compliance.”

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