A proposed cannabis production facility has raised the wrath and ire of many Alden residents, despite the fact it is one of the largest private sector-backed investments in the town in recent memory.
Residents packed the Alden Town Hall during an Oct. 6 public hearing that centered on plans an investment group headed by brothers Ryan and Luke Rich, Rich Products Corp. family scions, to turn portions of the long vacant Erie County Home and Infirmary complex on Walden Avenue into an agricultural manufacturing-based enterprise whose sole product will be cannabis flowers.
More than 25 residents spoke during the 130-minute long public hearing, with most of the issues centering on such environmental issues as noise, wastewater and wetlands treatment and odors - many of which masked their real concerns - cannabis production.
The Rich brothers are leading an investment group that will be acquiring the 150-acre former Erie County Home and anchoring the property with a 57,000-square-foot cannabis production facility whose products will be sold, wholesale only, to retailers across New York.
No retail sales will take place from the complex.
"This project is a win-win for Alden and a win-win for us," Ryan Rich said.
The intent is to take a derelict and challenged property that has been county-owned for more than a century and sitting vacant since 2013 and turning it into a modern production center that could employ as many as 70 people initially.
Patrick Fitzgerald, a Hodgson Russ LLP partner and one of the Rich brothers' attorneys, said the project has been on their radar screen since 2021. After scouting a number of local sites, the Alden one was determined to best suit their needs, Fitzgerald said.
Initial plans will focus solely on the new production facility. The fate of the long abandoned buildings on the site will be determined later, said Charles Malcolm, a Hodgson Russ LLP partner and project architect, Tim Rider from Trautman and Associates.
Still residents weren't happy.
"We don't want this here," said Melanie Rimkus. "It is wrong for this community."
The Erie County Legislature, this summer, agreed to sell the Erie County Home complex to the Rich brothers investment group.
Comments made by the residents and the Rich team will be reviewed during an Oct. 14 Alden Town Board work session, said Supervisor Colleen Paulter.
A decision may be reached by Oct. 20, or the town board may seek additional information.