OGeez Brands hopes to operate at 6 Charlesview Road

By Theresa Knapp 

Hopedale has granted a Host Community Agreement for OGeez Brands for property located at 6 Charlesview Road. 

OGeez is based in Arizona but hopes to expand to Massachusetts and has partnered with Dave Dennis of the town of Douglas. 

According to a presentation made by OGeez owner Bran Noonan, Dennis is a family member and an “aspiring cannabis entrepreneur” who has been mentored by Caroline Frankel who also has a cannabis business in Hopedale. 

“Through Caroline, we’ve identified Hopedale as a perfect home for our processing operations,” Noonan noted in his appeal to the board. 

According to documents provided to the board, “OGeez Brands is Arizona’s leading producer of cannabis-infused gummies. We produce great-tasting, consistent, safe and enjoyable edibles, offering a variety of flavors and strains in both recreational and medical dosages.” 

In a slideshow presentation to the Select Board on Aug. 1, Noonan said his mother started the company in 2017, and he took over in 2021. 

OGeez has signed a lease for a production facility at 6 Charlesview Road in anticipation of receiving a product manufacturing license from the Cannabis Control Commission of Massachusetts.  

“Our tenancy will be a good refreshing of an existing business that has been vacant for a while with a new growing business without really any significant construction or any rezoning,” Noonan told the Board. 

Noonan said they will have a secure facility with a limited footprint and no public access. There will be no signs on the building. 

“We will not even have any signage to identify our location. The idea is that you do not know we are there,” he said. 

He said they hope to employ “about 15 to 25 individuals from Hopedale and nearby communities” over a two to four year period. 

“We expect to have entry level as well as experienced manager positions; full time, part time…We expect to provide starting hourly wages of no less than $15 an hour for the hourly employees, with comprehensive medical benefits [and] various paid time off.” 

The HCA was approved on Aug. 1 with the caveat that the Select Board would be holding a joint meeting on Aug. 3 with the Planning Board, Zoning Board, and Development & Industrial Commission to discuss the marijuana establishment zoning bylaw and possible additions and/or amendments. 

Before the vote, Select Board Chair Glenda Hazard said the boards would be meeting “to look at the big picture of how much of what kind of cannabis we want, when and where. I don’t really anticipate any concerns, but I just want to let you know that, if we vote tonight, it would be contingent on that discussion.”