MONTAGUE — Representatives of Flower Power Growers Inc. were met with continued pressure from abutters at Monday’s Selectboard meeting to find a solution to an ongoing cannabis odor emanating from the 180 Industrial Blvd. grow facility.

Concerns raised by neighbors included the intensity of the smell and perceived inaction by Flower Power Growers to maintain its agreement to mitigate odor, per a special permit approved by the town. A document provided in meeting materials details odor complaints stemming as far back as March 26, 2024.

Public Health Director Ryan Paxton, providing an update since the matter was last discussed in July, explained that 65 complaints about odor of varying degrees of intensity and longevity have been compiled. He added that he has “not noted any substantive differences” when observing odor from the facility, which occurs intermittently. However, Paxton said at the July 17 Board of Health meeting, and again during Monday’s Selectboard meeting, that the town has not declared the odor to be a “nuisance smell.”

Flower Power Growers CEO Ezra Hagerty was joined by company founders John Stobierski and Josh Goldman on Monday to discuss updates they’ve made to systems that mitigate odor from the facility. The July 8 meeting ordered that Flower Power Growers conduct a technical review of on-site equipment, as well as implement a centralized system for communicating complaints that the Board of Health and Town Administrator Walter Ramsey would be involved with.

“I want to reiterate to the [Selectboard] and to the community that this has been a big priority of ours as a business,” Hagerty stated.

Stobierski echoed that sentiment later in the meeting.

“We want to be good neighbors,” Stobierski said. “We’re all a community. We want to do the best we can by everybody here and everybody in town.”

In a follow-up interview, Hagerty and Stobierski explained the actions they plan to take and what has already been done to mitigate odor.

Hagerty plans to upgrade an odor neutralizer used with exhaust fans by adding more nozzles to cover gaps in the fan frame where odor may leak out. Louvers, the part of the exhaust fans dictating the direction of air flow, were found to be at an angle below where the odor neutralizer is placed, thus allowing for unneutralized odor to leave the facility through the louvers.

Hagerty said Flower Power Growers has updated these louvers so they are moving in unison to be open at a horizontal angle, making it so the neutralizer can be effective when the louvers are open.

Additionally, roof fans have been reprogrammed to allow the odor-neutralizing agent to release 30 seconds before the fans turn on so it can be more effective when air is exiting. Hagerty noted that they are also investigating other odor-neutralizing agents that are specific to cannabis odor, outside of their current agent Ecosorb. Stobierski added that new policies and procedures will be implemented to make sure these devices are monitored closely.

As for improving communication, a Google Form that is shared between Flower Power Growers and the Board of Health was created to provide a central place for complaints. Stobierski and Hagerty said this plan was approved by the Selectboard.

“It’s really essential for us that we collect as much data about what people are smelling, what the wind direction was, what the intensity level was, how long they smelled it for,” Hagerty said.

Although the issue hasn’t been deemed a nuisance odor by the town, neighbors weighed in on how they have noticed the smell more intensely than has been reported by the Board of Health and Flower Power Growers.

“I’m struggling with how do we reconcile this between what we are smelling, what you are smelling and what you are doing,” Ja’Duke Center for the Performing Arts owner Kim Williams said. The site also includes a driving school and a preschool.

Williams said she feels the clause in the special permit that addresses odor mitigation is not being followed closely enough by Flower Power Growers or the town.

“Within this special permit, it says that there won’t be any noxious odor and that it won’t cause public discomfort,” she said. “It feels to me that if you smell marijuana at the playground of a preschool, that would be a public discomfort.”

Williams hopes that the situation is resolved within the next 30 days with the changes being implemented. A review of the odor mitigation methods will be presented at a Sept. 16 meeting.

“My hope and prayer is that in these next 30 days, a miracle happens, and their stuff starts working and we don’t smell anything,” she said.

Selectboard Chair Richard Kuklewicz spoke to the changes being investigated at Flower Power Growers versus the concerns raised by the community about the continued odor issue.

“We’re going to need to figure something out,” Kuklewicz told the grow facility representatives as the discussion reached its conclusion. “You can hear the neighbors, you can hear the abutters. … We need to be sensitive to the abutters and we need to be sensitive to you. You’re a taxpayer in town, but we need to be getting to a solution in some fashion.”

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.