To the Editor:
I have lived in the Ocean Place condominium community at 121 Nantasket Ave. since October 1991. For almost 30 years, I have seen many establishments come and go across the street, but I consider the prospect of Latitude 42 Therapeutics Medical Marijuana Treatment Center and Cultivation Facility at 120 Nantasket Ave. pure folly.
Similar facilities are located in industrial parks – and for good reason. The diesel-powered generators needed for such an undertaking create air and noise pollution. Materials such as the fertilizers and fungicides used in the growing process are toxic. Compounds like butane used in the extracting process are unstable, meaning marijuana facilities face a significant risk of fire or explosion. In its application, Latitude 42 promises to be a safe and zero emissions facility. But what will be the consequences for the approximately 1,400 adults (not counting children) who live within 1 mile of 120 Nantasket Ave. if that promise is not kept?
I have firsthand experience with the impact a manufacturing facility can have on a residential neighborhood’s quality of life. I grew up in the Back River area of North Weymouth near the Hingham Bridge. A Proctor & Gamble plant, located next to the Fore River Bridge on the Quincy side, was almost 2 miles away, but the smell of soap saturated the air in our neighborhood on a regular basis all year long. Everything I’ve read about processing marijuana indicates that it produces emissions with an unmistakably putrid stench. Only this time, instead of living miles away from the source, I would be living just feet away.
Odors and emissions are of particular concern to those of us who occupy the 65 residential condominiums at Ocean Place because our air conditioning/heat pumps are located in utility rooms on our terraces, all of which face Nantasket Avenue, and there is no way to prevent outside air from infiltrating our living spaces. Our cold air returns vent into those utility rooms, and during the winter months, cold outside air blows through them and through the air ducts whenever the heat is off. We will be unable to escape odors and emissions within our own homes.
Not only our physical health, but surely our quality of life will suffer unless the Board of Selectmen says to Latitude 42 Therapeutics: Not here!
Linda Breen
